


Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: The Misadventures of Team Mire

by P0rygon404



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon
Genre: Action/Adventure, Exploration, Fantasy, Friendship, Gen, Humor, Mild Language, PMD, Pokemon Battles, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:01:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 45,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27457672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/P0rygon404/pseuds/P0rygon404
Summary: A group of friends decide to become an exploration team. What could possibly go wrong?
Kudos: 1





	1. Stressful Beginnings

“Well… We’re almost there…” Dusty said to himself after he stepped off a lapras’ back and onto a wooden dock. The cubone took a few steps and stopped, as he looked out at the road ahead and tightly held his bone club to his chest. Dusty jumped slightly as he felt a hand on his back. He turned around to find a totodile standing behind him.

“Riptide don’t do that!” Dusty said, gripping his chest. “Sorry.” Riptide said, smiling. “It’s just, we have a bit of an issue.”

“What kind of issue?” Said Dusty, confused.

“The money kind.”

“What the hell do you mean 250 poké each!” A treecko yelled at the lapras. “The sign said 150!”

“Sometimes my twos look like ones… But yeah it’s 250.” The treecko stood there mumbling under her breath before Dusty rushed over. The cubone reached into his bag and pulled out the required funds.

“S-Sorry about that… Hey Ivy let’s get going alright…” Dusty said laughing nervously as he dragged the angry treecko away.

“ _Sometimes my twos look like ones…_ ” Ivy said as the three walked down a dirt road. “To be fair, it’s not like lapras have hands…” Dusty said.

Ivy sighed. “Fine… So how much longer till we get to Cascade City?” Dusty stopped and took a map out of his bag. “Looks like we should be there soon.”

“Like about half an hour soon, or about two hours soon?” Asked Ivy. “I’d say about an hour.” Dusty said, still looking at the map. “I guess we can stop here for now if that’s alright with you guys.”

“Eh, it’s fine. Starting to get kind of hungry anyways.” Ivy said, reaching into her bag. “You know… Maybe we should keep going… Don’t wanna keep the guild waiting you know…” Riptide said nervously.

“What’s with you?” Ivy asked. “And here I thought you'd be the first to want a break.” The treecko jokingly said. “Heh, heh funny… Now let’s go.”

“Wait a second. What happened to the apples I had in her-” Ivy slowly looked up and turned towards Riptide, who turned to look away from the treecko. Ivy pulled out an apple and held it out towards the totodile. “There were **five** in here!”

“Sorry…”

Dusty sat on a rock as he watched the two argue. “I should probably stop them before this gets out of hand… But then again… The scenery here is pretty nice…” He thought as he took a book and pencil out of his bag.

The cubone looked around at the trees that lined the road and began to draw. “Cascade City… I wonder how things will be once we get there…” Dusty thought. The cubone was soon snapped out of his thoughts as a bag hit him in the face. “Annnd now it’s out of hand…”

“This place is huge…” Dusty said to himself, as he stared in awe at his new surroundings. The three pokemon had finally made it to Cascade City. Many pokemon of all shapes and sizes made their way up and down the several stone streets that lined the city. As the three kept walking, they couldn’t take their eyes off the many stone houses and shops facing the streets.

“Damn… Sure is different from home isn’t it…” Ivy said, glancing around her. “Y-Yeah… sure is…” Dusty said in a somewhat shaky voice as he started walking closer to his two friends.

“Hey Dusty, that map say anything about where the guild is?” Asked Ivy.

“Excuse me but, you said you were looking for the guild?” The three pokemon turned around to see a lucario wearing a teal guild scarf that was tied around his arm standing behind them.

“If you want I can take you, I was actually heading there myself.”

Dusty, Ivy, and Riptide looked at eachother and back at the lucario. “A-Are you part of the Cascade guild?” The lucario smiled. “Yes, and I assume you three are here to apply to the Cascade City Guild?”

“Yeah, how’d you know?” Riptide asked.

“Let’s just say I’ve seen enough applicants to recognize them at this point.” The lucario then led them to a tall metal gate. “Here we are, the Cascade City Guild.”

The three pokemon looked up and stared at the massive castle-like structure and the waterfall behind it that the city was named for.

The longer Dusty looked, the harder he felt it was to breathe. That is until Riptide grabbed the cubone’s shoulders and shook him back to reality. “Hey, Dusty… Are you alright?”

“Yeah… Yeah, I’m good…”

“I should hope so.” The lucario said. “After all, I’m the one evaluating the new applicants.” The gate then opened and the lucario walked towards the guild. “I’ll be seeing you in a few days, yes?”

“Those two were supposed to be here over an hour ago. I hope they didn’t get lost.” Dusty thought. It was sundown, and the cubone had been sitting outside a run down looking house for his two friends to arrive.

“Then again, knowing those two, they’re probably arguing about the directions right now. I guess I should go look for them.” Dusty sighed to himself. But right as he was about to get up, he could see two figures off in the distance.

“See, I told you it was this way you moron!”

“Look, I said I was sorry! And how come I have to drag all your stuff?”

“Cause you're the one who got us lost.”

“Well that definitely sounds like them.” Dusty thought. As the two figures approached, Dusty could make out a treecko and a totodile. His friends had finally arrived.

Dusty sighed, “Can you two kill each other later? You know, so we can move in like we were supposed to over an hour ago.”

“Sorry we’re late, Rip over here wanted doughnuts and got us lost.” Ivy said while glaring at the totodile.

“They had mago berry filling, I had to.” Riptide said.

“You have an unhealthy obsession with sweets, you know that.” She said, smirking.

“I don’t give a fu-”

“Can you two stop?” Dusty interrupted. “Also if I can have one I won’t get mad for making me wait out here.”

“Well why didn’t you just wait inside then? Ivy asked. “Well I… Let’s just go inside.”

“We’re really staying here? This place looks just about ready to fall apart.” Ivy said, stomping on one of the many uneven floorboards while scanning the small run down house. “Look at this shit, this is a fucking saftey hazard! And there’s barely enough room for someone to be here alone.”

“Look, with the amount we spent just to get to this city in the first place. This was the best I could find.” Dusty retorted in a tired tone.

“I told you that Lapras overcharged us. This is-” but before the treecko could continue ranting, the tired cubone sluggishly walked across the room dragging his bag and bone club behind him.

“Hey, as long as we still have food money I don’t care what the place looks like.” The totodile said while dragging in his and Ivy’s bags.

“Yeah I bet, cause stuffing your face is all you care about Riptide!” Ivy snapped.

“Says the pokemon too lazy to carry their own damn stuff.” Riptide muttered to himself.

“Look guys, I get that we’re all a bit stressed and tired right now. But we don’t need to start fighting, okay.” Dusty said. The two looked at each other and Riptide pulled a white box out of his bag and opened it.

“Want one?”

It had been a long few days, the trio of pokemon had just arrived in Cascade City three days ago to apply for the Cascade City Explorer’s Guild. The first day had gone somewhat smoothly, With Ivy, Riptide, and Dusty crashing with a friend of theirs who lived in the area.

The second day, not so much. Due to an “incident” said friend was getting thrown out. The third day was when the guild’s testing (and the search for a new place) began. The three were put through a series of assessments at the guild, with today’s being battle capabilities. Needless to say, they were all ready to call it a day.

“So when did they say we’d get our results?” Riptide asked.

“Sometime within the next three to four days” said Dusty. “You know this kind of stuff gets. Besides, It’s not like we’re the only team to apply.”

“So we have to wait the rest of the damn week for an answer, great.” Complained Ivy.

“This is gonna be a long week.” Dusty sighed to himself.


	2. Memories

That night, Dusty lay awake thinking about everything that led up to this moment. He looked around the room only to see that his two friends were already asleep. The three had been friends for a while now, and although he had to admit that occasionally being their friend was… “difficult”. He wouldn’t have it any other way, those two had always been there for him. Even when he told them about his “dumb dream” about becoming an explorer.

“Come on, how is that dumb? Explorers are freaking awesome!” Riptide said.

“Yeah, but I’m not great at battling like you two are. I’m pretty sure explorers have to be able to defend themselves in dungeons.” Dusty said with his head down.

There was a brief silence until Ivy piped up. “Then we’ll do it with you. The three of us can train together starting tomorrow.”

“And someday, the three of us will be the best exploration team ever!” Riptide said.

“I highly doubt that.” A smug voice called out. The three turned towards the voice to see a Piplup, a Charmander, and a Zorua. “Because if I’m not mistaken, exploration teams only bring around dead weight on escort missions.”

“What the hell do you want, King?” Riptide asked the piplup. “Is there no one else around for you to irritate today?”

“Now that’s not very nice Rip, I thought we were friends.” King said in the same smug tone.

“If we _were_ still friends I’d still let you call me that.” Riptide said with a hint of anger in his voice.

“Alright then, _Riptide_. When you said you were going to form your own team, I thought you would at least go with someone who could stand a chance in battle. Not someone who had to be rescued from a low level dungeon.” The piplup said as he turned to look at Dusty.

“Leave him out of this.” Riptide said, stepping between King and Dusty with a look on his face that was doing very little to hide his rage. Dusty walked up to the totodile and put his hand on his back. “Riptide… Let's… let’s just go…”

“So who the hell was that? Ivy asked.

“Someone I’d rather not talk about right now. Besides, we’ve gotta get this one ready for dungeon crawling right? The totodile said while trying to force a smile.

“Maybe we should start tomorrow, it’s getting kind of late. Also I think that some of us could use a breather right now.” Dusty said.

“Alright, alright fine.” Riptide said. “So, how’s ice cream sound?”

The next day, Dusty and Ivy were walking down a dirt road that led down to an open field. “So is there a reason you brought me out past the edge of town? The cubone asked.

“As a matter of fact there is.” Ivy replied. “Today we’re gonna work on your aim. I’ve seen you attempt to use bonemerang before and, well… that’s why we’re doing it out here.”

“Is your dad still mad about the window? Dusty asked, sinking down a bit.

“Nah, he’s over it.”

“Oh, thank Arceus.” Dusty sighed. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but he scares me.”

“Don’t worry about it, he scares everybody. But anyways Rip should be done setting up the targets by now.” Ivy and Dusty soon reached a grassy clearing on the outskirts of town where the totodile was waiting for them with ten wooden targets set up behind him. “Oh good, you're here. You ready?” Riptide Asked.

“I sure hope so...”

“Alright, three in a row! That’s a new record.” Riptide said.

“Yeah, one better than last time.” Dusty sighed. “Look. We’ve been at this for over an hour, and my arm is killing me. Let’s just head back.”

“Just try one more time. And besides, no one’s expecting you to immediately get better at this.” Said Ivy.

“I guess so...” Dusty said as he raised his arm with his bone club in hand, before throwing it as hard as hard as he could muster. The bone club missed the targets completely, and went behind some bushes. “Ow!”

“Did that bush just scream?” Dusty asked. No sooner had he asked the bush dissipated revealing a Zorua rubbing their head in its place. “Wait, isn’t that the zorua from yesterday? Asked Ivy.

The zorua soon looked up and realized his illusion had worn off. “Oh fuck.” he said to himself. The fox then looked down at the bone club that had just hit him, stared at it, then got an idea. He then picked up the bone with his mouth, and ran off with it.

“Hey, get back here with that!” Ivy yelled. As the three chased after him, they were led down a path obstructed with bushes to a nearby cave. “Damn it, did we fucking loose him?!” Riptide said.

“He’s gotta be nearby. Said Ivy. “Quit hiding you little bastard, this isn’t funny!”

“Well personally I think it’s pretty funny, but if you say so.” Said Dusty. The cubone then became engulfed in a reddish-purple light which soon faded revealing the Zorua.

“Where’s Dusty?” Riptide asked angrily. “Relax, he’s still probably playing in the bushes or something.” Said the Zorua.

“So you got a name? Ivy asked. “Name’s Dusk. And let me guess, you want this back?” He replied as he gestured to the bone club on his back. “Kinda.” Ivy snapped back.

“Hey! Did you guys find him yet?” Dusty said as he stumbled out of the bushes.

Dusk smirked. “You three wanna be an exploration team right? Well the cave behind me is a mystery dungeon. So if the three of you are as good as you think you are…”

“You wouldn’t.” Ivy said as she realized what Dusk was implying. Then Dusk looked right into Ivy’s eyes and smiled a shit eating grin, tossing the bone club off his back and down into the cave.

“If I were you I’d hurry up and get it before the dungeon shifts.” Dusk said. “If you don’t who knows what-” “YOU LITTLE BASTARD!” Riptide yelled as he charged at the Zorua. Only for Dusk to disappear upon contact. This caused the totodile to lose his footing and fall into the cave. “Riptide!” Ivy and Dusty yelled out as they ran in after him.

“You really are the master of illusions aren’t you.” King said walking up to Dusk with his Charmander teammate in tow. “Eh, I wouldn’t say that’s my best work.” Dusk said.

“So you really got them to go in?” The Charmander asked. Dusk nodded. The charmander then looked up at the cave’s entrance. “Something doesn't feel right about this.”

“Don’t worry Flare.” Said King. “If they take too long we’ll get someone.”

“And how long _is_ too long exactly?” Flare asked, sounding concerned. “When I get tired of waiting.” Said King.

“Owww.” Riptide groaned. “Hey Rip, you doing alright?” Ivy asked. “Must have hit my head on the way down. But yeah, I’m fine.” The totodile then slowly stood up and flinched.

“You don’t sound fine.” Dusty said, sounding concerned. “Well I am. Also I think that belongs to you. Riptide said as he pointed over to the side where Dusty’s bone club lay on the ground. As Dusty rushed over to retrieve his club, Ivy began to look around the dull grey walls of the cave. “So, how do we get out of here?” She asked.

“Well we can’t go out the way we came in. And since we don’t have escape orbs, we’re gonna have to do this the hard way.” Riptide said.

“And by hard way, you mean find the end of the dungeon.” Dusty sighed.

“Why’s that?” Ivy asked.

“Dungeons tend to do this weird thing where going back the way you came in on the last floor can take you back to the dungeon’s entrance.” The cubone explained.

After deciding that it would be better to try and clear the dungeon rather than sit there, the three pokemon began to make their way through the cave’s winding passages. “So, you two have been in dungeons before right?” Ivy asked.

“Yeah, but… things didn’t go so well the last time I did this… “I don’t know why I thought I could go there alone.” Dusty said in a shaky voice.

“Well now you’re not alone.” Ivy said, smiling. “So what about you Rip?” “I’ve been through two low-level dungeons before.”

“Wow, just two?” Ivy said jokingly.

“Well it’s two more than you’ve-” Riptide flinched and grabbed his head. “Head still hurt?” Ivy asked. The totodile nodded. “You really shouldn’t have charged at the Zorua like that.”

“Don’t fucking remind me.” Riptide groaned. “It’s getting really dark in here.”

“Well it is a cave.” Ivy replied.

“Hold on, I have an idea. Also you may want to stand back a bit.” Dusty said. He then held out his bone club and blew a stream of fire from his mouth, lighting the end of his club. “Since when did you learn flamethrower?” Riptide asked.

“A while ago, I just… never really used it…”

“Well, at least now we can see.” Ivy said.

After the three made their way down the next two floors, they noticed a light coming from around a corner. “I wonder what’s going on over there.” Asked Dusty. “You think we should check it out? Riptide asked.

“I don’t know, I’ve kinda got a bad feeling about this.” Ivy said.

“Well I’m just surprised we haven’t run into any dungeon pokemon yet.” Said Dusty. But no sooner had he said that, the cave began to shake. As the shaking continued, the trio began to survey their surroundings as they each slowly backed against each other. The violent shaking was soon followed by four Excadrill and a bursting out of the ground, surrounding them.

“Me and my big fucking mouth.”

“I didn't think an exploration team would show up so soon.” “Yeah, thought we’d have a bit more time.” “I don’t think they’re with a guild. They don’t have scarfs.” “So what should we do with them?” “Let’s bring 'em’ to the boss and see what he thinks.” The excadrill said to each other.

“We’re dead. We’re dead, we’re dead, dear Arceus we’re gonna fucking die.” Dusty thought as the three of them were escorted into the lit area of the cave. Torches lined the walls, and crates were littered throughout the area.

“What the hell is this?!” A deep voice called out.

“We found them poking around.” One of the excadrill said. A Machoke came out from behind a stack of crates and took a long look at what the excadrill had presented to him. “You three shouldn’t have come here.” The machoke said as he walked towards them.

“Listen. Ivy said. We don’t know what’s going on here. This is probably all just one big misunderstanding. So if you could just let us be on our way-”

“Shut up.” The machoke said sternly. “You four go and check to see if there are others lurking around. I’ll handle these three myself.”

As the excadrill left, the machoke stood there cracking his knuckles and staring down the trio. Ivy and Riptide readied themselves for the inevitable battle that was about to occur. Dusty however was shaking as he held his still lit club out in front of him.

The machoke then proceeded to charge towards them. Riptide then let loose a heavy stream of water from his mouth in an attempt to slow him down, but to no avail. He then took a swing at the totodile, hitting him square in the face. The totodile went flying halfway across the room and crashing into a pile of crates.

The machoke then immediately turned towards Ivy and Dusty, and went to take a swing at the treecko. Ivy jumped and dodged his attack, but then felt her tail being grabbed. He then turned and threw Ivy across the room. Dusty took this opportunity to throw his bone club at their adversary… And missed. The cubone’s eyes went wide and his body ran cold at this realization.

“Okay Dusty, do something. Use flamethrower, use headbutt, use something! Don’t just stand there, fucking do something!” Dusty thought. But he didn’t, even as the machoke walked towards him. As much as he was internally screaming at himself to move. He couldn't. The panicked cubone just stood there… frozen.

“Listen kid, it’s nothing personal.” The machoke said. Just can’t have anyone getting in the way.”

“HEY!” Ivy yelled. The machoke turned towards Ivy, and then screamed. “ARCEUS DAMMIT, MY EYES!”

“Dusty! Get over here now!” Ivy shouted. Hearing the treecko’s voice, the cubone snapped back to reality and ran towards the treecko as fast as his legs would allow.

Ivy then grabbed Dusty by the arm and dragged him behind the toppled pile of crates where Riptide had landed. And there the totodile lay with a small sphere in his hand. “Hold on.” Riptide said in between heavy breaths. First a faint glow radiated from the orb, and then there was a flash of blinding light.

Dusty opened his eyes and the first thing he noticed was… sunlight. The cubone looked around, and behind him and sure enough was the cave’s entrance. “We’re out.” Dusty said to himself. “You guys okay?” Ivy asked.

“Define okay, cause I feel like I’m on the verge of a heart attack…” Dusty said, shaking. “Wait! Where’s my-”

Ivy held out his club. “After all the trouble we went through, I’d hate for you to lose it again.” She said.

“Everything hurts…” Groaned Riptide. Dusty looked down at the totodile and started tearing up. A hollow rattling sound soon came from the cubone as he began to cry. “Hey, what happened back there wasn’t because of you.” Riptide said.

“It’s not just that, you both got us out of there. And I just… I froze…” Dusty said sadly. “Hey, have some confidence in yourself.” Riptide said, smiling.

“So... how did you guys pull off that stunt with the machoke anyways?” “Oh, those crates I smashed into. They were filled with blinker seeds and escape orbs. What are the odds?”

In recalling that memory, Dusty had actually started to tear up a bit. “Still can’t believe that was a year ago… But things will be different this time.” The cubone said to himself. “Are you okay?” Ivy asked.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine…”

The cubone woke up the next morning as the sun’s rays came in at just the right angle to hit his eyes, he groggily got up and began to look around the small room. “No sign of Ivy, then again she did always have a habit of getting up early. Guess she must have gone out or something.” Dusty thought. He then looked towards Riptide who was still asleep with an empty box beside him.

“And he ate the rest of the doughnuts… So much for breakfast. I guess I could go out and-” His train of thought was suddenly derailed as Ivy burst through the front door. “Hey guys! Get the hell up, I have great news!”

“WHAT THE FUCK IVY!” Riptide yelled, having been jolted awake as a result of the treecko’s intense entrance.

“Shut up Rip, you can have your heart attack later. This is important.” The treecko took a piece of paper out from behind her back. “We’re in!”

“What do you mean we’re in?” Dusty asked tiredly, still having not fully woken up yet.

“The guild! We got into the guild!”


	3. Old "Friends"

“I didn’t think we’d hear back so soon.” Dusty said. “So wait, it actually says that we got in?” Asked Riptide. Ivy rolled her eyes “Here look.” she said while shoving the paper in the totodile's face. He began to read while Dusty looked over his shoulder.

 _Congratulations Team Mire,_ “Huh, guess they already picked out our team name.”

“Damn, and I already picked out a few names too...”

“I don’t know, I kinda like it.”

“Anyways.” _You have been accepted into the Cascade Explorer’s Guild. Please arrive at 10:00 am on Friday for the Newcomer’s Ceremony. We look forward to working with you._  
 _-Guildmaster Lance._

“I can’t believe in four days we’re gonna be explorers!” Said Dusty.

“We should go out and celebrate!” Ivy said.

“You guys go do that, I’m going back to bed.” Riptide said, yawning. The totodile then walked slowly to one of the straw beds and collapsed right on top of it. “Fine then, more pancakes for us.” Ivy said as she and Dusty were halfway out the door.

As the treecko and cubone made their way to the busier part of town, they could hear someone calling out their names telling them to wait. The two turned back to see Riptide running up to them. “I thought you said that you were tired?” Ivy asked.

“Well thanks to you, now I’m hungry and can’t sleep.” The annoyed totodile said.

As the three made their way through Cascade City’s main square, they saw that it was rampant with activity as all manner of pokemon were walking up and down the stone paths that lined the city, and going about their business.

“I still can’t believe just how packed this place is.” Dusty said as he looked around at the many shops that lined the streets. “Yeah, but it’s not that bad.” Ivy said.

“I’m not saying it’s bad or anything, it’s just… still a bit to take in.” said Dusty.

“Yeah, I get it.” Ivy said before stopping, turning and looking up at the stone building beside them. “Okay. The Embertail Diner, I think this is the place.”

“Oh this is the place alright.” Riptide said while sniffing the air.

“Rip, I know that look on your face. You better not get us banned from here.” Ivy said, sternly.

“When have I ever gotten us banned from-”

“The Oran. Garden. Incident.”

“You said you wouldn’t bring that up…”

“Hey, it’s not my fault that you lack self control.”

Dusty rolled his eyes and opened the door. “Can you two behave?” He said as Ivy and Riptide glared at each other.

After the three walked in, they found a table and were soon greeted by a charmander. “Welcome to the Embertail Diner. Are you ready to or-” He paused and stared at them with a shocked expression on his face.

“Something wrong?” Riptide asked.

“Um, if you don’t mind me asking… What’s your name?”

“Riptide…” He said, confused.

“And you two... Ivy and Dusty right?...”

“Yeah…” They both said, just as confused.

“Oh dear Arceus…” Flare said to himself. “Then again, I probably deserve this.” The charmander thought. “You sure you're alright?” Ivy asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Flare said snapping back to reality.

“Well that was weird.” Riptide said.

“Yeah, he almost looked like he was panicking when he saw us. And how did he know our na-” Dusty paused as the realization hit him like a gravelerock upside the head. “Hey, do you guys remember a year ago? The day before the cave?”

There was a brief silence before Flare came up to them with two plates of pancakes in each hand and one balanced on his head. After placing each one on the table, he walked off.

“Do you really think that’s him?” Ivy asked. Dusty then noticed a small paper poking out from under his plate. After pulling it out, he saw that it read: Can we talk later? “I have a good feeling…”

“Look, maybe… maybe we should hear him out.” Dusty said.

“I don’t know. Riptide said, as he’s shoved a pancake into his mouth. “I mean, if he’s here then King and Dusk are probably here too. How do we know they’re not up to something?”

“Well you saw how he was acting earlier.” Ivy said. “It’s like he wasn’t expecting to see us.” Riptide sighed. “I guess so, but I still don’t like this.”

“Well you can go back if you want.” Ivy said.

“And leave you guys alone with them, I don’t think so.” When the three were done eating, they paid and made their way out. Once outside, they saw that Flare was waiting beside the building for them.

“Hey guys, so… can we talk?” Flare asked, nervously.

“So, is there any reason you wanted to see us?” Riptide asked in a disinterested tone. “What he _meant_ to say was, how come you wanted to talk to us?” Said Dusty, giving Riptide a slight nudge.

Flare sighed. “Well, this probably won’t mean as much coming from me, but… I feel really bad about what happened last year.”

“Wow. Wasn’t expecting that.” Ivy said.

“Look. After Dusk got you guys to go down there, I told them that something didn’t feel right and that we should get someone. But you guys found your way out before we did.

“Ughhh, how long’s it gonna take them to get through that damn dungeon. I’m bored!” Dusk said.

“You think something happened to them?” Flare asked while pacing back and forth. “Calm your flaming ass down.” Said King.

Flare kept pacing. “King! This isn’t like the pranks we normally pull, you guys went too damn far this time! They could be-” Flare was interrupted by a flash of blue light in front of the cave’s entrance.

“So, how did you pull off the stunt with that machoke anyways?”

“Oh, those crates I smashed into. They were filled with blinker seeds and escape orbs. What are the odds?”

“Escape orbs? Really? Now that’s just cheating.” King said as he and Dusk walked over to them. “Oh King, please don’t do what I think you're gonna do.” Flare thought as he watched from a distance.

Ivy turned towards the piplup and glared at him. “Do you have any fucking idea what was down there!?” King rolled his eyes. “We’ve been through that dungeon before, it’s not that hard.”

“There was a gang of criminals hiding out in there!”

“So I guess we’re in the right place then.” Everyone turned towards the voice to see a lucario, along with a dragonite and a blastoise. All three of which were wearing matching teal scarfs.

“You two go on ahead, I’ll take care of this.” The lucario said to his teammates, the two nodded and went on ahead into the cave. He then walked up to Riptide and pulled an Oran berry out of his bag. “Here, please eat this.”

“Are you from the Cascade Guild?” Dusty asked. “Yes, my name is Cobalt. And I am the assistant guildmaster to the Cascade Guild.”

Cobalt then turned towards King and gave him a disapproving look that a parent would give to their child. “Now, what happened here?”

After a brief explanation, Cobalt looked down and sighed. “Oh King… Lance isn’t going to be happy about this…”

“I should have done something sooner… and I’m sorry.” The four pokemon stood there in silence until a charizard came out the front door and walked up to them. “Flare, what are you doing out here?”

“Oh uh, sorry dad. I just… needed to do something important…” The charizard looked over from his son to the three pokemon he was speaking to and took a good long look at them, as if he were trying to read the atmosphere.

He then looked back at Flare and nodded before turning to go back inside. “Just don’t take too long alright.” Flare then turned towards the three. “Listen, I don’t expect you to forgive me. But, if there’s anything I can do to-”

“We’ll think about it.” Riptide said before walking away. Dusty and Ivy turned and watched the totodile leave. “Hey um, we… gotta go.” Ivy said as she faced Flare.

“I’ll see you around I guess…” Flare said.

“Rip, wait up!” Ivy yelled.

“What?!”

“Why’d you just storm off like that?” Dusty asked.

“Dusty. We could have died because of what King and Dusk did. He could have stopped them, and didn’t!” Riptide yelled.

“At least he actually bothered to try and apologize, that’s more than could be said for the other two.”

“That’s not the point!” Riptide yelled as he started to tear up. “They put my friends in danger… and even though Flare’s not directly responsible, I can’t forgive him for that.” The totodile sighed. “I’m going to the doughnut place.”

“Dude, we just ate!” Ivy said.

“I don't care, I’m upset!” Riptide said as he stormed off.

Later that morning, Ivy and Dusty were back at the house playing cards waiting for Riptide to come back. “You got any threes?” Dusty asked in a somber tone.

Ivy looked through her cards. “Go fish.” Dusty sighed and did so. “Hey, you doing alright?” Asked Ivy.

“I’m fine.”

“Okay first of all, whenever someone usually answers with “I’m fine” they don't mean it. Second, you're a horrible liar. So what’s wrong?”

“I’m getting kind of worried about Riptide, he’s been gone for a while now.”

“I wouldn’t worry too much, Rip can handle himself.” There was a brief silence before the front door opened up revealing Riptide.

“Where were you? You've been gone for like two hours.” Dusty said.

“Did you get lost again?” Ivy asked.

“No… Okay maybe a little, but that’s not why.”

“Then what happened?” Dusty asked.

“I went to go speak with Flare.”

The cubone and treecko’s eyes went wide. “Oh Arceus, what did you do?” Ivy said.

“I didn’t “do” anything… We just talked, that’s all.”

“So…” Dusty said. “Did you?...”

“Well… yes and no, we kind of just agreed to stay out of each other's way for now. But it’s not like I still hate him or anything.”

“Well I guess that's a good start.” Dusty said.

“Hey it’s not like we’re friends or something… I’m just… tired of being angry…”

“Hey…” Dusty said as he put his hand on the totodile’s shoulder. “Wanna join our next game?”

“Nah, I’m tired.” Riptide said as he walked off towards the straw beds. “Hey Rip.” Ivy said as she turned towards him. “You know explorers have to get up early and _stay_ up right?”

“Well I’m not one yet.” He said smiling.


	4. New Starts

_Where… where am I...?_

_Am I dead...?_

_No… no I can feel something… I… I feel weird..._

_Alright Jonah… get up… you need to get up…_

_Okay… okay my visions clearing… it’s so bright…_

_I feel lightheaded… I think I’ll just lay here…_

In the middle of a forest, a buizel lay on the ground surrounded by various items. He soon shot up into a sitting position and began to take in his surroundings. He soon regretted sitting up so fast, as his head started pounding.

“Ah fuck, my head… Where the fuck am I...?” He slowly stood up and immediately noticed something was off. He felt… shorter. He looked down and saw that his body was covered in orange and cream colored fur.

“What the…” The buizel then looked around and saw a nearby stream. After slowly walking over to it, he then looked down at his reflection. “Why am I a fucking weasel?”

“Sure, all my clothes disappear… But my goggles. No. That’s what fucking stays.” The buizel sighed. “I think they shrunk too...” Jonah said as he stared at his reflection.

He then walked back to the spot where he woke up and looked at the ground. His bag lay on the forest floor as well as several items from it. “There better not be anything missing.” Jonah said to himself as he started picking everything up and putting them back in his bag. Afterwards he started digging through his bag making sure everything was there. “Okay good, everything’s there… Wait, no. No, no, no, no. My fucking camera’s gone… Shit!”

“Okay. Okay, okay, okay. Think Jonah… how could this have happened? Wait! My journal! The buizel dug through his bag again and pulled out a small leather book. “There has to be something in here.” He said while flipping through pages.

“Why are there pages missing? Did someone tear them out?” Jonah thought. “Here’s something.”

_Journal entry #418: I’ve finally found it, everything I’ve worked towards has finally led up to this moment. I just wish the others were here to see this, Sam, Alex and Jamie would have been freaking out if they saw what these ruins held. It kinda sucks that the legend saids: “Only one may enter”. I swear, I’ve never seen a game of rock, paper, scissors make someone so mad. Then again, Alex always had a short temper. But anyways, if it’s true that this place opens to an entire other world. Imagine the discoveries we could make. Now let’s just hope this doesn't kill me or anything._

Jonah's eyes began to tear up a bit. He closed the journal and placed it back in his bag. He took a deep breath, wiped his eyes, and strapped on his bag the best he could. “Well… let’s do this…”

Dusty was lying face down on his bed with a book in front of him and a pencil in his hand. Every now and then he would look up, back down and scribble something in his book.

“So, what’cha working on?” Ivy asked as she was doing sit ups on the floor.

“Shh. You’ll wake him.” Dusty quietly said, gesturing towards Riptide who was asleep face up in his bed. Ivy then got up to take a look at what the cubone was drawing. On the page was a sketch of the sleeping totodile. “Your drawings are getting better.” Ivy said.

“You think so?”

“Yeah, I mean I don’t really know jack about art, but I think you really captured Rip’s… essence… or something.” The treecko said, smiling. “So tomorrow’s the day. You ready?” Ivy asked.

“Honestly, I’m really fucking nervous.” Dusty said while holding onto his bone club a bit tighter than normal.

“Well if it makes you feel better, so am I.” Riptide said, smiling.

“Oh, you're awake?” Said Ivy.

“Yeah… Just thinking about tomorrow…” The totodile said drowsily. “I wonder what kind of teams we’ll meet there?...”

“They're probably all super professional and take all their shit seriously.” Ivy said. “So we need to give a good first impression.”

“I swear, every time I come into this office it’s a fucking mess.” Cobalt said. The lucario said as he looked around the room. “Sometimes I wonder why I even bother organizing everything.” He said as he started picking up the scattered papers off the desk in front of him.

The empoleon behind said desk looked at him and chuckled. “Oh my dear friend Cobalt.” The empoleon said. “What you call a “fucking mess” I prefer to call organized chaos.”

“Lance… I… How can you even work like this?”

“Hey, I don’t question your work methods do I?”

Cobalt rolled his eyes and sighed. “Fine. Anyways, everything's ready for tomorrow.”

“Well that’s good.” Lance said. “Hey Cobalt, do any of the new teams interest you?”

Cobalt started looking through the papers he held and placed two on the desk. “These two, Team Mire and Team Shine. The ladder of which are definitely skilled…” He said putting a paw up to his chin.

“But?...”

“There’s something about team mire…”

“Let me guess, it’s some aura stuff that I’m probably not gonna understand.” The empoleon said.

The door to Lance’s office soon opened as a piplup and zorua walked in. “Uncle Lance, we finished cleaning up downstairs.”

“Didn’t anyone ever teach him to knock?” Cobalt thought.

“Alright good.” Lance said, while sweeping the two papers under another stack of files on his desk.

“So can Dusk and I finally go down to the beach now?”

“Sure, if Cobalt goes with you.”

“What?!” King and Cobalt said in unison.

“Are you sure you don’t want to take this opportunity to spend some time with your nephew?” The lucario said with a somewhat forced smile.”

Lance looked down at King who was vigorously nodding in agreement. “Well I don’t see why not. You sure you don’t mind finishing things up here?”

“I don’t mind at all.”

“Alright you two, get up! Today’s the day!” Ivy said.

“Ughhh. Gimme like twenty more minutes…” Riptide groaned. Ivy rolled her eyes and walked up to the totodile.

“Come on and get up lazy.” She said while trying to push him out of bed. “Dusty, help me out here.” The cubone slowly walked up to them and started repeatedly poking Riptide in the face with his club.

“Alright, alright, fine I’m getting up. What was all that for? We don’t have to be there till ten and the sun’s barley up.” Riptide said, yawning.

“Well you should get used to it.” The treecko said. “I told you explorers have to get up early… Damn it Riptide! Wake up!”

“Huh… wait what’d you say?...”

Later that morning, Dusty, Ivy, and Riptide made their way to the heart of Cascade City. “You alright Dusty?” Ivy asked.

“Yeah… I’m just… kinda freaking out a bit.” He said in between breaths.

“Remember what we talked about.”

“Yeah, deep breaths… Once we’re past that gate, and through those doors. We’ll officially be explorers.” Dusty said.

As the three pokemon walked up to the Cascade Guild’s gate, they saw an obstagoon wearing a teal scarf around his neck. “So I take it you three are here for the ceremony then.” The obstagoon said as he started opening the gate.

“Yeah.” Dusty said, shaking a bit.

“Hey, everything will be fine, it’s just a glorified introduction to the guild.” The obstagoon said. Dusty let loose a sigh of relief.

“It’s Cobalt’s lectures you have to worry about.” He said, gritting his teeth and looking a bit off to the side. “So try not to get into too much trouble. And if you do, leave me out of it.” He said, opening the gate.

“Sure thing…”

The three pokemon walked through the gate, and up a fight of stone stairs to the large front doors of the guild. Once inside, they made their way to the main hall where they were met by five other teams. Each one consisting of two to three pokemon each. At the end of the room a podium was set up. At which Cobalt stood with some papers in his paws. He scanned the room, nodded to himself and got everyone’s attention.

“Hello everyone. I’m glad to see that you all made it here. My name is Cobalt, the Assistant Guildmaster, and I am pleased to officially welcome you all into the Cascade City Explorer’s Guild. When I call your team name, please come up and take your explorer badges and guild scarfs. As well as a posting for your first mission. Since you’re all new, these missions will all have an E or D ranking.”

“I didn’t think we’d be going on a mission so soon.” Ivy whispered.

“On that subject, I can not stress enough to please pick missions that seem suitable for you. Unfortunately in the past, we’ve had a few incidents where individuals here have gotten themselves into trouble because they were trying to impress someone.”

One by one, each of the six teams were called up and received their scarfs, badges, and missions.

“Once you all complete your missions, please return back here. Each team will also be given three thousand poké to use on supplies for dungeons before leaving today. So with that being said, good luck to all of you.”

“Wow, we actually look like explorers now.” Riptide said, putting his scarf on.

“Yeah… we do don’t we…” Dusty said, sounding like he was about to cry.

“You good there buddy?” Ivy asked.

Dusty nodded. “Yeah… I’m alright. I’m just happy.”

As the three made their way back into town to look for supplies, they decided it would be a good idea to go over the job.

“Alright, let’s see here.” Ivy said, while looking at their mission. “Looks like this is an outlaw mission.”

“So who are we looking for?” Riptide asked.

“It says: _Please bring back my petrify orb! The thief’s a Vulpix on the 3rd floor of Serene Woods._ "

“Well that doesn’t sound too hard, and Serene Woods isn’t too far from here.” Riptide said.

“Hey guys, look. There’s some shops over there.” Dusty said. “We can each take one thousand and go to a different shop. We should probably save whatever we don’t spend though.”

Ivy nodded. “Then we can all meet back here when we're done.”

“Sounds good.” Said Riptide. The three soon went their separate ways though the maze of shops.

A while later, Ivy and Dusty had both returned to the meeting place and were now waiting for Riptide to show up.

“So, whatcha find in there?” Ivy asked the cubone.

“I managed to get my hands on some apples and pecha berries. But I swear, some of these pokemon are acting like it’s the end of days or something.”

“Yeesh. Well I was looking at these TMs that one store had and… Oh Arceus, what did you do?...”

“Wait, what?” Dusty said, confused.

“Turn around.”

Dusty did so, and was shocked at what he saw. “Oh Riptide what did you do?”

There, the totodile stood with a tall pile of items in his hands and a blank stare on his face.

“The kecleons… They started talking to me… And then… this happened…”

“You need to return at least half of this.” Ivy said.

“I can’t…”

Dusty sighed. “I think I saw a storage place nearby…“

After about an hour of walking down some dirt roads and through some grassy fields, the three finally made it to the edge of Serene Woods.

“Looks like we’re here.” Dusty said looking up from a map. “So, we’re actually doing this…” The cubone said to himself as he put the map back in his bag. He then felt a hand on his back. Looking back up, Dusty saw Riptide smiling.

“We got this.”

Dusty then nodded and took a deep breath, before the three of them stepped inside.

“Huh, it’s actually kind of peaceful in here.” Ivy said.

“If by “peaceful” you mean way to quiet then yeah, sure.” Dusty said as he tightened his grip on his bone club.

“Hey guys, look!” Riptide said as he pointed at a bunch of large branches that were twisted together around some trees to form something that almost resembled a staircase. “Think it leads to the next floor?”

“One way to find out.” Ivy said, before sprinting towards it.

“Wait up! Some of us have shorter legs here!”

After the three of them climbed up the “stairs”, they soon found themselves mysteriously back on the ground.

“Hey it worked, we must be on the next floor.” Dusty said, looking around.

“Well, I guess now we know what to look for.” Ivy said.

As they made their way through the second floor, they began the search for another “stairway” in the trees.

“I see another stairway!” Ivy said. “Let’s hurry up and-” But halfway through her sentence, a purple spike flew past her face and hit a nearby tree.

“What the fuck was that?” Riptide asked, looking over at the tree.

“That, was poison sting…” Dusty said, sounding concerned. The three of them then looked over towards some bushes where the move used against them came from, and four sets of big yellow eyes stared back.

“Probably just some venipede, we can take them.” Riptide said, confidently.

Dusty nodded and shot a stream of fire from his mouth at the red insects.

“See, they're leaving…” Riptide said. “Now let's get going.”

“KILL THE INTRUDERS!”

The three turned back around and saw at least a dozen purple wheel shaped bugs along with three of the four venipede from earlier.

“That’s a lot of whirlipede…” Ivy said, nervously.

“What do we do?” Dusty whispered.

“On the count of three… we run to the stairs.” Ivy whispered back. “One, two, three…”

Dusty, Ivy, and Riptide then made a break for the stairs as the whirlipede chased them. They just barely made it as the whirlipede started using poison sting.

“Everyone okay?” Dusty asked.

“Yeah. But it’s almost like every single whirlipede on that floor was in this one spot or something.” Riptide said, panting.

“At least we made it to the third floor…” Ivy said. “Now, where’s that vulpix?”

Jonah felt like he was starting to lose his mind, the buizel had been wandering the forest for days searching for anything that seemed like it would lead to a way out. His fur was disheveled, he was exhausted, and at this point he’d given up on trying to carry his bag. Instead just dragging it behind him.

Normally, a few days in the woods wouldn’t be the biggest deal in the world for him. But this time he was alone, in a new body, and in a world full of strange creatures constantly trying to attack him. About an hour ago was no exception to this.

Jonah was attacked by some weird red bug, and after beating it with a stick he got it to leave. But not before it bit him. The buizel soon started to feel funny, and began to lose feeling throughout his body before collapsing shortly after.

As Jonah lay on the ground, he swore he could hear what sounded like people fighting. “Is… is that… fire?...” He said, as he turned his head to the side. “That thing… just shot water… from its mouth… Fascinating…” The buizel thought as his eyes started to shut.

“I stole this petrify orb fair and square, you're not taking it from me!” The vulpix yelled, after dodging Riptide’s water gun attack.

“Yeah, that’s not how it works.” Ivy said, before charging at the vulpix at a high speed. Landing a direct hit, the vulpix was knocked back a few feet. Ivy then leapt into a nearby tree, and looked down at her teammates. “Dusty, Rip. Now!” The treecko said.

Dusty then threw his bone club at the vulpix, landing a hit before flying back to his hand. Riptide then finished things off with water gun.

After the defeated vulpix dropped the petrify orb, it then began to roll towards some bushes. “You guys watch him, I’ll go get the orb.” Ivy said, jumping off the tree.

“So... our first mission…” Dusty said.

“Yeah, I’d say this went pretty well.” Said Riptide.

“Uhh… Guys… Come over here…”

“What’s wrong?” Dusty asked, walking over.

“Well, I found the orb…”

“And?”

“I also found this…” The treecko said, pointing at a buizel laying on the ground. He was wearing a pair of goggles on his head and had a large bag laying next to him.

“What’s going on here?” Riptide asked, dragging a restrained vulpix behind him.

“That.” Said Ivy.

“Woah… Do you think he’s dead?”

“He’s not dead.” Dusty said, looking back at the totodile while his hand was on the buizel’s chest. “But he might be if we don’t get him out here.” The cubone said. “I think he’s poisoned.”

“Do you have any more pecha berries?” Ivy asked.

Dusty began digging through his bag. “Yeah, I’ve got like five in here and… What the hell happened? There’s only one in here.”

“Yeah… I wonder how that happened?...” Riptide said, slowly looking away.

“Dude.” Ivy said.

Dusty looked back at the totodile. “When did you even?...”

“Look, I think we have more pressing matters to attend to.” Riptide said, gesturing towards the buizel.

“Fine, but were talking about this later.”

“Don’t drop him!” Ivy said, holding on to the buizel’s legs.”

“Easier said than done, he’s heavier than he looks.” Dusty said, trying to hold up the upper body.

“You sure guys need any help?” Riptide asked.

“No, we got this.” Said, Ivy. “Just raise up your badge so we can get out of here.”

The totodile did so, and a bright light enveloped the five pokemon as they were transported out of the dungeon.

Back at the guild, the other teams had started returning from their missions. The first of which being team shine. The team consisted of a heliolisk and an umbreon, and were talking about their mission.

“I told you it wasn’t gonna be that bad, you worry too much.” The heliolisk said.

“You know Sol, do think it’s possible for someone to be too optimistic?” The umbreon jokingly asked.

“Nope.” Sol said, smiling. “Besides, it means we’re like night and day. And I like that about us.”

“Can you at least ease back on the puns?” The umbreon said, rolling her eyes.

“Nope.” Sol said, cheerfully. He then began looking around the room at the other teams. “I wonder if any of the other teams wanna be friends.”

“Speaking of teams, it looks like there’s still one missing.” The umbreon noted.

The doors to the main hall soon burst open. And there stood team mire carrying an unconscious buizel. Everyone then looked over to see what the commotion was.

“Is something wrong, you guys?” Sol asked.

The three members of team mire looked at each other, and then back at the heliolisk before Riptide piped up. “Which way was the infirmary again?”


	5. Humans

Deep within a cave, a man was taking notes in a small book as he observed the drawings and luminescent crystals that adorned the cavern’s walls. “Journal entry 418…”

“ _So Jonah, what’cha see down there?_ ” A voice in his ear said, startling Jonah and making him drop his notebook. “God dammit Jamie! You gave me a heart attack!” Jonah said, into his communication device.

“ _Sorry, I’m just-_ ”

“Excited.”

“ _Kinda._ ”

“Hold on a sec.” Jonah said, digging through his bag and pulling out a camera. He turned the camera on and lowered his goggles.

As Jonah continued to walk further through the cave, he began to see more strange drawings on the walls. The images etched in the cave seemed to depict a massive battle between two creatures.

_"_ _So you getting anything down there?”_

“Oh yeah… The same drawings of those creatures from before are here too. And there are even more of these crystals down here then there are out there.”

“ _And the energy?_ ”

“It’s **everywhere**.”

Jonah kept walking deeper into the cave before reaching a dead end. “Well… What do we have here?...” He said as he stared at an intricate symbol on the cave’s wall. Jonah then looked at the passage below it. The letters used all had the same strange eye. “Why do I feel like they’re watching me…” Jonah thought.

“Hey, guys… I think I found it…” He said as he reached into his bag, pulling out his journal and started to read the passage aloud.

“Remnants of the beasts that command time and space, I call upon thou to transcend our reality….”

“ _So did anything happen?_ ”

…

…

…

“No… Nothing happened…. Wait… It’s opening…”

The light blue and purple crystals that lined the cave began to glow brighter and brighter as the cave wall slowly opened. A blinding light shone through the opening and engulfed the cave.

“Guys! The energy levels are off the-”

…

Jonah opened his eyes and shot up into a sitting position. He was panting heavily and his heart was beating rapidly. He then began to look around the room trying to figure out where he was.

“What is this, some kind of doctors office?... Did someone find me?” He continued to look around the room and saw a large mirror lying up against the wall. After catching a glimpse of his reflection, the buizel slowly got out of bed and began to walk towards the mirror. Jonah stared at his new form, and started to poke at the yellow ring around his neck.

“What the hell am I?...”

“Glad to see you’re finally awake. And walking might I add.” A soft, kind sounding voice said to the buizel.

Jonah turned to the side to see a tall, purple, almost draconic looking creature looking down at him smiling. The buizel’s mouth and eyes went wide as he stared back up at them. But then Jonah began to feel weak again, and then everything went black.

The goodra took a step back as a look of worry crept over her face. “Oh dear…”

Meanwhile, Dusty, Ivy, and Riptide stood inside Lance’s office. The three were called there shortly after they had brought the unconscious buizel into the guild’s infirmary. Lance stood up from his desk and walked over towards the new team.

“It’s your first day, and you’re already acting like a pro team.” The empoleon said, smiling. “I guess there is something about them, isn't there… I think I see what you meant now Cobalt.” Lance thought.

“So… is he gonna be okay?” Dusty asked.

“I can assure you the buizel you brought in is in good hands.”

“Sir, please calm down.” Lilac said in a worried tone. The goodra was currently restraining Jonah, as he had just trashed half the infirmary trying to get away from her.

“Let the fuck go of me!” Jonah screamed, squirming as he felt himself slowly sinking in the goodra’s embrace.

“Not until you calm down.” She said in a more serious tone.

The door to the infirmary soon opened, as team mire walked in.

“Is the buizel doing alright?” Dusty asked.

“Oh my god there’s more of you.” Jonah said, as his body stiffened. “These are the pokemon who saved you from the forest.” The goodra said, setting Jonah on the floor.

“Poke what now?” The buizel said, with a bewildered look on his face.

“You sure he didn’t hit his head or something?” Ivy asked Lilac.

“Stop! Just stop talking!” Jonah yelled as he put his paws up to his head. “It may not fucking look like it, but I’m a human! And where I come from, animals don’t fucking talk!”

The others stood there in shock after hearing what the buizel had said.

“I… I’ll be right back… You three keep an eye on him.” Lilac said as she made her way out of the infirmary. The goodra closed the door and took a deep breath. “Another human… who would have thought?”

“So…” Ivy said, trying to break the silence. “You’re a human?...”

Jonah looked down at his furry orange arms and sighed. “Well… I used to be…” The buizel said in a somber tone. “And from your reactions, I’m gonna take a guess and say that’s not normal.”

“ _Well…_ considering that humans don’t exist…” Dusty said.

“Don’t exist?... So… I guess I probably seem crazy to you.” Jonah said.

“Not to me you don’t.” Lance said, entering the room. “I need you four to come with me.”

The five pokemon left the infirmary and made their way downstairs to an enormous room with numerous shelves filled to the brim with books. “Welcome to the archives.” Lance said.

They followed the empoleon to the very back of the room where they were met by Cobalt and Lilac. Lance then walked up to the wall and stuck his horns into three small holes before turning his head. Once he removed them, the wall began to open up. One by one they all walked into the room behind the wall before the opening soon shut.

The secret room was just big enough to accommodate the seven pokemon. A map of the continents was hung on the wall, and a wooden table sat in the middle of the room. On the table was a large book with a gold emblem in the shape of three water drops with a trident overlaying them.

“It’s only our first day and we’ve already saved someone claiming to be a human, and now we’re inside a secret room.” Riptide said.

“Any reason you brought us down here?” Jonah asked.

Lance, Cobalt, and Lilac looked at each other and nodded. “You're not exactly the first “human” we’ve met.” Lilac said.

“Woah, woah, woah. So you're saying **this** has happened before.” Jonah said, gesturing all around his body.

Lance nodded. “It happened many years ago…”

It was a humid, cloudy summer afternoon. And a piplup was walking down a rocky path. The road was lined with trees, as well as the occasional bush and patch of tall grass. The piplup was marching with his head held high, and humming a tune to himself. He then turned around to look back at his friends, only to find that they weren't there. “Come on guys, hurry up!”

“Lance…” A panting riolu said, slowly walking up to him. “It is too hot for this…”

“Cobalt, it’s not that bad. Also, that's the humidity you're feeling.” Lance said.

“I don’t care. I’m drenched in sweat, and my fur itches.” Cobalt said, scratching himself.

“Yeah, and you stink too… Wait, where’s Lilac?”

“I’m over here!” The goomy said, as she crept towards the two. “You walk too fast, you know that?” Lilac said.

“Sorry, I’m just really excited.” the piplup said.

“So, are you finally gonna tell us why we’re going out to Stony Ridge?” Cobalt asked. “You know we’re not supposed to be up there.” The riolu then felt something hit his face. He looked up and sighed. “Great, and now it’s raining.”

“And yet, you still came with me.” Lance said, smirking. “Besides, think of this as explorer training.”

“But if you must know why we’re here…” The piplup said, as he reached into his bag. He then pulled out a multi colored feather.

“Is that a rainbow wing?!” Lilac excitedly asked.

“Yep.” Lance said, proudly.

“Where’d you even get that?” Cobalt asked.

“Remember that big storm from a while back?

“What about it?” Cobalt asked.

“Well afterwards, there was this awesome rainbow. I went outside to get a better look… and this fell out of the sky.” The piplu said, gesturing to the feather. “I promised myself after the next time it rained, we were gonna see Ho-Oh.”

“I hate to break it to you Lance, but rainbows don’t just show up every time it rains.” Cobalt said.

“Well, all I can do is hope.” Lance said, smiling.

The three pokemon made their way through the dungeon of Stony Ridge. The rain had made the rocks a bit more slippery, but they still managed. Once they reached the top, Lance, Cobalt, and Lilac were met by a vast view of the valley below them. Mostly it was the twisted paths between the trees that brought them here. But if they looked even further, they could see the cluster of houses that made up their hometown.

“See, look at this view. And the rain’s even lightened up.” Lance said.

“Alright, alright you win.” Cobalt said.

“It is a pretty nice view.” Said Lilac.

“And it’ll be even better with a rainbow.” Lance said, taking out the rainbow wing. “So now, we wait.”

_Help… meee…_

The three pokemon turned towards the source of the raspy voice, and saw a small yellow fox with orange tufts in their ears… a fennekin.

“It doesn't seem like anything’s broken.” Lilac said, using her feeler-like horns to check for any injuries the fennekin may have sustained. “You're a bit scratched up, but nothing too serious.”

“Here.” Lance said, holding out an oran berry. “To get your energy back up.”

“Thanks.” The fennekin said.

“So you got a name?”

“Amber. But that’s pretty much all I can remember to be honest.”

The piplup then turned and looked out over the ridge. “We should take her back to town…” Said Lance.

“You guys don’t have to carry me…” Said Amber.

“No, it’s fine. We’re almost there anyways.” Lance said.

“Then could you put me down?” Amber said, smirking.

Lance and Cobalt looked at eachother, shrugged, and did so.

“So… You really don’t remember anything?...” Lilac asked.

“Nope, not a thing but my name. But I have this weird feeling… Like, I don’t belong here… But at the same time I do…” Amber then paused as something caught her eye. “Woah… Look at that…” She said, while pointing up.

The other three pokemon looked up to see a rainbow, as well as a large multi colored avian figure.

“She later started having flashbacks of her past life, remembering more and more as time went on…” Lance then looked off to the side. “She even decided to join our team…”

Team Mire stood there with looks of shock on their faces.

“So you’ve met another human?!”

“You saw Ho-Oh?!”

“You three used to be a team?!”

Jonah just gave the empoleon a blank stare. “I’m lost…”

Cobalt cleared his throat. “If I may explain… It’s been recorded that pokemon claiming to be humans have popped up every now and then throughout history.” The lucario said, opening the large book on the table. “So while “humans” don’t exist here, they have come here in the past in the bodies of pokemon.”

Jonah then looked over to the empoleon. “And you didn’t tell me this in the first place because…”

“Well if I did, my story wouldn’t have been as interesting now would it.” Lance said, sounding slightly offended.

“So… Whatever happened to Amber?" Dusty asked.

“She went missing a few years ago… Before I took over the guild…” Lance said, looking like he didn’t want to talk about it.

“Anyways.” Cobalt said, trying to change the topic. “It is also said that the humans brought here have come through a myriad of means and for numerous reasons. So that begs the questions. Why are you here? And how did you get here?”

“We can deal with that later.” Lilac said, crossing her arms. “We should at least let him get settled first.”

“Not to mention, I don’t really know the first thing about being a… _pokemon_ anyways.” Jonah said. “I’m also still questioning whether or not I’m in a coma.” He said under his breath.

“Which is why team mire’s gonna show you.” Lance said.

“Wait what?” Dusty asked.

“Just let him stick around you guys and show him what it’s like being a pokemon.” Said Lance.

“Also try to refrain from telling anyone that you’re human.” Cobalt said. “There's a good chance someone will either freak out, or laugh at you. Most likely the ladder.”

As the seven pokemon then began to leave the archives, Jonah stopped and looked around the massive room. “Hey uh, you guys mind if I stay down here for a bit? I mean, so long as I’m stuck here I want to learn as much about this place as I can.”

Dusty then walked over to Jonah, and picked up a book. “Then let’s learn more together.”

The two were soon joined by Ivy and Riptide, while Lance, Cobalt, and Lilac continued to go upstairs.

“Hey Cobalt.”

“Yes Lance.”

“The other day you said you saw something in them… I think I see it now…”

“I’m telling you, I saw them this morning.” Dusk said.

“Well if you're so sure they're here, then why are we breaking into my uncle’s office? We’ll just end up running into them eventually.” Said King.

“Yeah, but aren't you the least bit curious about what kind of stuff Lance has hidden away in here.”

“No, but I bet you are you fucking klepto.” King said, jokingly.

The zorua began to dig through the drawers in Lance’s desk. Dusk’s eyes went wide before slowly shutting the drawer. “So that’s why that swanna girl keeps coming over…”

“And now I have something new to add to the list of things I didn’t need to hear.” Said King.

“Ooh… Found the rookie profiles folder.” Dusk said.

“There, you got what you wanted, now let's go. Uncle Lance will probably slap me into next week if he finds me in here.”

The two then bolted out of the office and to their room down the hall.

“You better put that back.” Said King “I’m pretty sure Cobalt will notice if it’s gone.”

Dusk rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, I get it.”

Once King and Dusk made it back to their room, they opened the folder and scattered it’s contents across the floor.

“Ahah! See, I told you!” The zorua said.

King picked up a paper and stared at it intently. The faces of a cubone, totodile, and treecko were present on the page. “So they really did get in…” King said, as a look of slight rage crept over the piplup’s face.

“Are you mad? Cause you sound mad.” Dusk said, taking a few steps back.

“First they get me sent here to babysat by that wet blanket lucario, and then they become explorers before me… And **here** of all places… So yeah… I’m a little mad.”

“So, what are you gonna do?”

King then took a deep breath and sighed. “I don’t know yet.”


	6. Day Out Part 1

Deep within the Cascade Guild’s archives, Jonah and Team Mire were on the floor surrounded by piles of books. Dusty, Riptide, and Ivy had been teaching the former human about their world. They started off by showing Jonah a book about pokemon species and their biology.

“So this is what I am?…” Jonah said, looking at a section on buizels. “A flotation sac… That’s what this is?” He said, poking at the yellow ring around his neck.

“Buizel use their two tails to swim by rotating them in a screw-like fashion…” Jonah looked behind at his tails and tried moving them. He got a few swishes at first, but after a few tries he managed to get them to spin. “O-oh… Oh my god that feels so weird.”

“Having fun there?” Ivy jokingly asked.

“How do I make them stop spinning?”

Jonah kept looking through the book, and eventually found information on Riptide’s, Ivy’s, and Dusty’s species. The ladder of which he was kind of disturbed by. He slowly looked up at Dusty, and then back down at the book and shivered.

“Something wrong?” Dusty asked.

“Nope.”

As the night went on, the four pokemon stayed in the archives. As team mire told Jonah all about pokemon types, moves, and the various items explorers use in dungeons.

“Alright… let me see if I got this right.” Jonah said. “The place you found me in is called a mystery dungeon…”

“Yeah.”

“And mystery dungeons are these weird shifting places, and no one knows how they got like that…”

“Yep.”

“And you guys, as well as everyone else in this building gets paid to go through these things?”

“Pretty much.”

“Huh. Well I’ll have you know, back where I come from I was what you might call a “treasure hunter.” The buizel said proudly, puffing out his chest.

“Good, then should fit in well here if Lance decides to let you in.” Ivy said.

Jonah slowly sank back down. “Yeah… that sounds great…”

“Something wrong?”

“Oh, It’s nothing. I’m fine.” Jonah said, forcing a smile.

The next morning, Ivy woke up and began to look around the archives. “Shit… Did we fall asleep here?” The treecko said, yawning. “Hey guys, get up.”

Dusty began to stir and then sat up. “Ah fuck, my back… Remind me to never sleep on the floor again…”

Jonah got up and stared at the two and sighed. “Guess yesterday wasn’t a dream…” He said to himself.

Riptide was still fast asleep on the floor with a book lying open over his face.

“Ah crap, I just remembered.” Dusty said, yawning. “I think we left some stuff back at the house.”

Ivy gritted her teeth. “Yeah, I think you're right.” She then walked over to the sleeping totodile and slammed her hand down on the book covering his face. “Hey Rip, wake up!”

“What the hell was that for!” Riptide yelled.

“We need to pick up some stuff from the house.” Said Ivy.

“You don’t need me for that…” The totodile said, yawning.

“True, but I’m not gonna let you sleep on the floor all day.”

Riptide sighed as his stomach began to growl. “Fine. But can we at least eat first?”

The four pokemon soon went upstairs and made their way to the guild’s dining hall. “Are you sure this place isn’t a fucking castle?” Jonah asked, looking up and around the massive stone hallway.

“I think it used to be a long time ago.” Dusty said.

“Hmmm, that’s strange. I thought there was only supposed to be three of you.” The four turned around to see a piplup and a zorua. The members of team mire stood frozen in shock, while Jonah was more confused than anything else.

“What. Are you doing here?...” Riptide asked, trying (and failing) to hide his anger.

“Well you see.” King said. “After the “incident” last year. My uncle, **_the guildmaster_** , heard about what happened. So now, I’m stuck working here so he can keep an eye on me. And as you can see by the lack of scarfs…” The piplup had to pause so he wouldn’t burst into a rage.

“And here I thought joining the guild was what you always wanted.” Riptide said in a snide tone.

King looked like he was about to explode. But he then took a deep breath, looked at Jonah and smirked. “That a new teammate of yours?”

“Nope… kinda just tagging along.” The buizel said, confused.

“He looks weak.” King said.

“What’s this guy going on about?” Jonah thought.

“I really don’t get why you keep surrounding yourself with dead weight weaklings.” He said as he turned towards Dusty. “Speaking of dead weight…” The piplup said as he faced Riptide. "You could stand to lose some. You look like you packed on a few since we last spoke.” King said, poking the totodile’s stomach.

Riptide’s face turned a deep blue as he stood there fuming. “Well.” The piplup said, walking away. “See you around. _Rip._ ”

The four watched as King and Dusk strolled away and walked upstairs. “Well… He seems nice…” Jonah said sarcastically. “Friend of yours?”

“I’m gonna kill him…” Riptide mumbled.

“Well I don’t know about you guys but I’m starving so let’s go down to the dining hall like we intended.” Ivy said, tugging on Riptide’s arm.

The dining hall was huge. With several pokemon of all shapes and sizes occupying the many tables. Some were talking to each other, while others kept to themselves.

The four made their way over to a buffet table displaying various breakfast foods, as well as what Jonah remarked as “strange looking fruits”. After getting their food, they found a table on the far side of the room and sat there.

“So… Are we gonna talk about what happened back there?...” Jonah asked.

Dusty shuffled a bit in his seat. “Um… that’s kind of a-”

“If he’s going to stay with us, then we may as well just tell him.” Ivy said.

“Yeah whatever.” Riptide huffed, as he got up from his seat. “I’m gonna go get more.” He said before walking off.

After an explanation, the buizel sighed. “So they baited you into going inside of a cave... wow… I mean, I’ve had bullies before. But, that’s… excessive.” Jonah said.

“I've never seen anyone look so sad on a saturday morning…” Sol said. The heliolisk was looking over at team mire’s table, while his umbreon partner continued to eat the food laid out in front of her.

“I know you want to help Sol, but maybe we should stay out of this. It looks bad.” The umbreon said.

“How long have we been friends now, Luna? You should know by now I can’t do that.”

Sol then got up and began to walk over to team mire’s table. As Luna watched her friend walk off, she looked back down at her plate, and then back at Sol. The umbreon sighed, picked up the plate in her mouth and followed the heliolisk.

“Well try not to let what he says get to you so much.” Jonah said.

“It’s not just that.” Riptide said. “He _knows_ what pisses me off. Like back home, he would pick on Dusty cause he knew I’d find out about it. And that stupid smug face makes me wanna fucking tear his-”

“Hey uh, mind if we sit here?...” The four looked at each other, then back at the heliolisk and umbreon. “Sure…” Ivy said. Sol smiled and sat down.

“So, you two are another team?” Jonah asked.

The heliolisk nodded. “The two of us are team shine, we’re a new team like you guys. My name’s Sol, and this is Luna.” The umbreon looked up from her meal and gave a small wave. “And you guys are… team mire, right?”

“Yeah. I’m Ivy, and this is Riptide, and Dusty.”

“And I’m Jonah.” The buizel said with a little wave.

“Well since the new teams are off today, we were wondering if you guys are doing anything.” Said Sol.

“The new teams have off today?” Riptide mumbled to Dusty.

“Yeah, didn’t you get a note at your room?” Luna asked.

“We _kinda_ fell asleep in the archives last night…” Dusty said, rubbing his arm.

“Anyways, we were gonna get some of our stuff from the place we were staying at.” Said Ivy.

“Oh.” Said Sol, sinking a bit in his seat. “Well, it’s just… I noticed guys were looking kind of down so… I thought we could maybe hang out or something.”

The members of team mire gave each other some looks and nodded. “Oh, it won’t take too long.” Dusty said. “What’d you have in mind?”

The heliolisk’s frill shot open as he sat up in excitement. “Awesome! There’s this really cool spot near the beach called Sapphire Cove. Some buddies of ours run the place.”

“That sounds pretty cool.” Ivy said.

“Yeah, I was kinda wondering what you guys do for fun around here.” Jonah said. “Since I’m gonna assume you don’t have wifi.” Everyone at the table looked at the buizel in confusion.

“What is that, some kind of berry?” Ivy asked.

Jonah sighed. “Nevermind.”

“Alright then… We’ll meet up with you guys here later. And then we can all go together.” Luna said.

After finishing their food, team mire and Jonah left for the house. “So, what exactly did you leave behind anyways?” Jonah asked.

“Oh, just some personal stuff.” Dusty said.

As the four made their way through the main square, Jonah looked around at the stone and wooden houses that lined the streets. “Damn, now I really feel like I’m back in the dark ages.” Jonah thought.

As they continued walking, they came across various pokemon setting up tents. “What’s going on here?” Asked Jonah.

“It’s the Rare Market.” Sol said.

“Oh Arceus!” Dusty said to himself. “I thought you guys were waiting at the guild?”

“Sorry. I got bored.” The heliolisk said. “Did I startle you?”

“Little bit, yeah.” Said Dusty, breathing heavily.

“Wait, what’s the rare market?” Riptide.

“You guys aren’t from Cascade are you?” Luna said.

Sol elbowed the umbreon. “Dude.”

“No, it’s fine.” Dusty said.

“Well, anyways.” Said Luna. “The rare market is a thing that pops up every now and then around here. Treasure hunters who aren’t affiliated with guilds will come and sell rare items and materials they find in dungeons.”

“Cool.” Jonah said, looking around before something caught his eye.

In one tent, there was a stand run by what looked like a red crocodile covered in black markings. As for the stand, it was covered in gemstones that seemed to have a faint glow to them. But that’s not what got the buizel’s attention. He couldn’t quite describe the feeling, but Jonah felt like something was drawing him towards them.

“Jonah.” Ivy said, trying to get the buizel’s attention. “Jonah!”

“Huh, wait wha…” He said, half snapping out of his trance like state.

“Jonah, we're going.” the treecko said.

“You guys go on ahead, I’m gonna stay here for a bit.”

“We can’t just leave you here alone.” Dusty said.

“Hey, it’s not like I'm a little kid.” Jonah said, crossing his arms.

“Alright, fine. Just-”

“Don’t do anything stupid, got it.”

As team mire walked off, Jonah slowly made his way over towards the stand. “What is this feeling? It seems… familiar…” The buizel thought. He looked at the gems that lined the stand, and lowered his goggles over his eyes. “No… It can’t be…” He said to himself.

Jonah began to see that a strange energy was radiating from the gemstones and towards his body. As he got closer to them, the energy seemed to feel… stronger.

“Can I help you?” A gruff voice asked. Jonah looked up at the krookodile behind the stand. “Oh um, sorry.” The buizel said as he lifted his goggles back up. “It’s just… where did you find these?”

Dusty, Riptide, and Ivy finally made it back to the old house they had stayed at prior to joining the guild. “You do have the key right?” Ivy asked Riptide. The totodile went wide eyed and looked over at the treecko.

“I thought you had it.” The two then paused as they heard a click and saw the door open. Dusty then turned and raised up the key before walking inside.

“I can’t believe I left this here.” Dusty said, picking up his sketchbook.

“And here I thought you were the responsible one.” Riptide jokingly said.

“Yeah, and you could learn a thing from him.” Ivy said, smirking.

“Hey. Last I checked, you left something here too.” The totodile said, pointing and a deck of cards on a table.

“Yeah, yeah.” The treecko said, rolling her eyes.

“Hey Luna, look at this!” Sol said. His face was pressed up against a glass case that was embedded in the counter of one stand. Inside the glass case were various gold trinkets, some of which were lined with gems. “Shiny…”

“Sol, I don’t think you should be putting your face on that.” Luna said.

“Your friend’s right.” Said a persian behind the counter. “It’s a pain in the ass to keep having to wipe that shit down.”

“Sorry.” Sol, said as he stepped away.

“So are you gonna buy anything?”

“Oh, no I’m just browsing.”

“Of course you are…” The persain said under his breath.

“Hey Jonah wh-” Sol said looking towards the krookodile’s stand only to see that he was gone. “Where'd he go?” Sol walked over to the stand where a bewildered krookodile stood.

“Excuse me but, the buizel that was here. Did you see where he went?”

“I honestly don’t know what happened.”

“What do you mean?” Sol asked.

“Well… Would you believe me if I said he vanished.”

“I'm so not gonna miss this place.” Ivy said, as she looked around the small house.

“Yeah, I kinda figured.” Dusty said. “So do we actually have everything this time?”

“Looks like it.” Said Riptide.

“Alright.” Said Dusty. “Let’s get g-” Before he could finish his sentence, there was a loud crash. The three turned around to see the table knocked over, and Jonah laying on the floor.

“What the fuck…” Ivy mouthed as the three stood there in shock.

“Are you okay?!” Dusty asked, rushing over to the buizel.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Jonah said, rubbing his back. “Did that book happen to say anything about buizels teleporting?”

“What happened?...” Asked Riptide.

“Well… There was this one stand in the rare market that had these crystals. I was looking at them, and the next thing I know I wound up here.”

“You sure you didn’t just accidentally use a warp orb?” Riptide asked.

“No, this is something different. You see these?” Jonah asked as he pointed to his goggles. “I made them back in my world. They let me see this strange energy that my team was…” The buizel then stopped mid sentence and slowly looked down.

“What’s wrong?” Dusty asked.

“They probably think I’m dead…” Jonah said as his eyes began tearing up.

Dusty, Ivy, and Riptide looked at eachother, not entirely knowing what to do. Dusty then looked back to the buizel and walked towards him.

“It’s been days… Damn near a week at this point…” Jonah then found himself being hugged by the cubone.

“There you guys are.” Said Sol. “Hey Jonah, where’d you run off to? The guy over there said you just vanished or something.”

“Don’t worry about it…” Jonah said.

“So, you guys got what you needed?” Luna asked.

Dusty nodded. “Yep, we’re all ready.”

Sol’s frill shot open as he excitedly turned around. “Alright everyone, to Sapphire Cove!”


	7. Day Out Part 2

“Sure is nice out today isnt it.” Said Sol. The Heliolisk then turned and walked off the stone road leading to the beach, and on to a dirt path (if it could even be called that) enveloped by trees and other plant life.

The others followed Sol through the dense foliage, until he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. “Why’d you stop?” Asked Dusty.

“Yeah… In my excitement, I may have forgotten to tell you that to get there we need to go through a mystery dungeon…”

“Yeah, that would have been good to know earlier.” Said Ivy.

As the vegetation started to clear up, the dirt path began to turn into one of stone. “Well there it is, the dungeons entrance.” Said Sol, pointing down a path leading to a nearby cliffside.

Dusty began to slowly take a few steps back. Riptide turned to the cubone. “You alright buddy?”

Dusty stood there shaking a bit. “I-It’s nothing…”

“What’s with him?” Luna asked.

Riptide sighed. “I think I might know…” He said before walking up to Dusty.

“You know, you don’t have to come if you're scared.” Said Luna. “But if you want to be an explorer, this is the kind of stuff you should get used to.”

“Luna…” Sol said, nudging her a bit.

The umbreon sighed. “And we’ll all stick together.”

Dusty thought for a bit before firmly grasping his bone club and taking a deep breath. “Okay. Let’s go.”

The six pokemon then made their way into the first floor of the dungeon. The grey stony ground was littered with small patches of grass and small bushes. Jonah walked up to the edge and looked down, watching as the waves smashed against the rocky coast. “Woah…”

“Okay, this dungeon is seven floors.” Sol said, turning around. “Just look for large holes in the ground that look kinda like stairs.”

**Floor B2**

“So, what made you guys want to join the guild?” Sol asked Dusty.

“I’ve always looked up to explorers, ever since I was little.” Said Dusty. “I’d be lying if I said I was the bravest pokemon out there… I guess I wanted to be more like them. I bet that sounds kinda dumb dosen’t it…”

“No, no… I think I get it…” Said Sol.

“Not to mention, you get to see the world, travel with friends, and leave our small-ass town, so why not right?” Said Ivy.

“As for me, I guess you could say this kind of stuff runs in the family.” Riptide said.

“Yeah… I still don't really know what to do here… So what about you?” Jonah asked Sol.

“Well, I’ve always been fascinated with some of the treasures pokemon would bring to the rare market. And it may not look like it, but I’m also pretty into history, myths and legends.” Said Sol. “My dream is that someday, I’ll discover something no one’s ever seen before.”

 _“We’re gonna discover something the world’s never seen before!...”_ Jonah looked away from the heliolisk as those words echoed in his mind. He had said those words right before he and his team had left for that expedition.

“But Luna here just wanted an excuse to leave Cascade City.” Sol jokingly said.

“Yes, because it’s sooo bad that I want an occasional change of scenery.” Luna said sarcastically.

As the six pokemon continued to make their way through the dungeon, Jonah would watch as the others battled the various dungeon pokemon that would appear. “How do they do that?” Jonah thought.

The buizel then looked over at Riptide as he fired a powerful shot of water from his mouth. He then began to think back to last night.

“Water type?... So what does that mean like, I have some kind of affinity and attributes to water or something?”

The other three pokemon looked at eachother, and back at the buizel. “Sure, something like that…” Dusty said. “Anyways, what’s important to know is that you’re weak against grass types like Ivy. And electric types.”

“So what am I strong against?”

“Fire types. As well as ground types like myself.”

“As for moves, I guess I could show how to use water gun and ice punch, but that’s really about it.” Said Riptide.

**Floor B5**

As the six pokemon arrived on the fifth floor of the dungeon, a large number of pokemon dropped down. Wingull, rufflet, aron, and gligar surrounded them.

“Fucking shit.” Luna groaned.

“W-What’s going on?!” Jonah said, concerned.

“I-It’s something that’ll occasionally happen in dungeons.” Dusty said in a shaky voice.

“Is now a bad time to remind you that I don’t know any attacks.” Said Jonah.

“No attacks huh…” Sol thought. “Don’t worry.” The heliolisk said, opening his frill. “I have something that should take care of at least half of them.”

Sol’s frill began to glow before firing off an electrical blast in almost every direction. As his attack lit up the battlefield, Jonah was stunned at what he saw. As all of the wingull and rufflet succumbed to the heliolisk’s display. “What. Was that?!”

“Parabolic charge, it’s pretty useful at times like this.” Said Sol.

The battle continued as team mire and team shine started picking off the rest of the opposing pokemon. “Alright, great job everyone.” Said Sol.

“And here I thought we were just going somewhere to chill.” Said Ivy.

“Look, trust me. It’s worth it.”

“Whatever ya say…”

“Now, with that out of the way. We can-” Sol then stopped before wincing in pain. “Oh Arceus I don’t feel good…”

“A poison trap…” Luna said looking at the floor. She then went through her bag and sighed. “That’s weird… I had pecha berries in here earlier…”

Dusty and Ivy both turned towards Riptide and stared at him. “Really. Again.” Ivy said to the totodile, crossing her arms.

“You can’t prove anything.”

“It’s fine...” Said Sol. “I see the stairs over there, once we go down it should pass…”

**Floor B6**

“Alright, we’re almost there.” Said Sol.

There was a long silence as the six continued to walk. “Hey, so earlier you guys said you weren’t from around Cascade. Right?” Said Sol. “What’d you use to do fun?”

“There was the lake.” Said Ivy. “Rip would go out and swim, Dusty and I would look for stuff along the shoreline.”

“What kinda stuff?” Asked Luna.

“Oh, just things I thought looked cool. Also things for Dusty to draw.”

“Ivy…” Dusty said.

“You draw?” Asked Luna.

“Ummm…”

“Ooh, can we see when we get out of here?” Sol asked.

“W-Well uhh…” The cubone’s face began to heat up. Almost to the point of wanting to take the skull-mask he wore off. Almost.

“I hate this.” King said, carrying a box. “Why can’t those damn pelipper drop this stuff off at the guild?”

“Quit whining, just be glad we’re allowed to go alone this time.” Said Dusk. “Besides, this is your fault.”

“How the fuck is this my fault?!”

“You just _**had**_ to say that stuff to Team Mire where Cobalt could hear you.”

“Don’t call them that!”

“Look all I’m saying is that maybe we should leave them alone. You saw how Riptide got back there, it’s that same look you get when you’re pissed **_beyond_** pissed. And quite frankly, it scares me a bit.”

“Well I’m not scared of some-” King then found himself on the ground after bumping into someone. “HEY WATCH WHERE YOU'RE… Flare…”

“Oh Arceus no…” The charmander said under his breath. Flare got up and retrieved some of the items he had dropped.

“So, how’s the restaurant business treating you?” King asked in a snide manner.

“Better than then the guild’s treating you it seems. Thought you two might have been a team by now.”

“The fuck did you just say to me torch ass!”

Flare rolled his eyes, turned around and started to walk away. “Your not going any fucking where!” Yelled King. Dusk then hopped in front of the piplup.

“You really want to do this now?” He said, gesturing towards some surrounding bystanders. King huffed and picked up the box, before turning to walk away.

“This isn’t over.”

Flare soon made it back to the Embertail Diner where his father was waiting for him. The charizard looked down at Flare as he carried in the supplies he was sent out to get. Flare set everything down before looking up at the charizard.

“Sorry I’m late… I ran into…. I… got distracted…” Flare said, looking down. He then felt a clawed hand on top of his head.

“Try not to let them get to you alright.”

King and Dusk continued to walk back to the guild, As they walked, Dusk could hear the piplup muttering something to himself about Flare.

“Calm the hell down before you drop that.” The zorua said.

_**“I AM CALM.”** _

“Whatever.” Said Dusk. “Hey look, the rare market’s back.

“Great…” King said in an unenthusiastic tone. “Wait a sec, is that Cobalt?”

The lucario in question was standing by a tent being run by a krookodile. “The hell’s he doing here?” Dusk asked.

“Wanna find out?”

“I don't know… I mean it’s not like we can just sneak up on him.”

“Can’t you just use your illusions?”

“Illusions can’t mask aura. He’ll see us.”

“Wait, wait shut up. He’s leaving.” The two then watched as Cobalt walked off with a small bag in his paws.

“Well, here we are. Sapphire Cove.” Said Sol as he looked towards the ocean.

“Wow…” Jonah said to himself. He watched as sparkling blue water crashed on the pristine white sand that lined the beach.

Sol and Luna then started walking up to a large wooden shack. ”Hey Tangle, you in there? Luna asked as she pounded on the door.

The large door slowly opened as a tall mass of vines slowly exited, and made their way onto the beach. The tangrowth then looked down at Sol and luna. “Bout time you guys got here.”

“Sorry we took so long.” Said Sol, rubbing the back of his head. “We met this other team at the guild and brought them along.” The heliolisk said gesturing towards Jonah and team mire.

“You guys got in! When were you gonna tell me!” Tangle exclaimed. Sol’s frill shot out when he realized he forgot to give his friend the news. “Heh, heh… Surprise…”

“Anyways, where’s Wave?” Asked Luna.

“Same place as always…” Tangle said.

The umbreon rolled her eyes. “Fine, I’ll go get him.” Said Luna, before turning and walking away.

“So, you gonna introduce me to your friends?” The tangrowth said.

“Oh yeah… Hey guys come here!” Said Sol waving the others over. “Alright guys, I’d like you to meet Tangle. Tangle, this is Dusty, Ivy Riptide, and Jonah.”

“So you’re all with the guild too huh?” Tangle asked.

“Well they are. I’m kinda just… here.” Said Jonah.

“This place is beautiful…” Dusty said as he began to look around.

“Yeah. it is, isn't it…” The tangrowth replied.

“And you like, live here?” Asked Ivy.

“Pretty much.”

Luna soon came back with a slowbro walking behind her. “ _Hey, so what’re you bringin me out here for…_ ” Said Wave. The slowbro seemed completely out of it… That was until the shellder on his tail suddenly bit down. “Oh, are these friends of yours?”

Luna nodded. “Well it’s nice to meet you, I’m Wave.” The slowbro said, waving. “By the way I should probably warn you. Sometimes I get a little….” He said before staring off into space.

“And it happened again…” Tangle said, poking the shellder on Wave’s tail. “Yeah… sometimes he just goes off into his own little world. But when the shell’s bite’n, he’s really something.” The tangrowth said, putting one of his vines over the slowbro’s shoulder. “Anyways, who wants drinks?”

As the day went on, each of the pokemon went off to do their own things. Riptide and Jonah were in the water near the shore, the totodile trying to show the buizel how to use water gun.

“Alright, so how do I do this?” Asked Jonah.

“Uhh…” The totodile stared blankly at Jonah before putting his hand behind his head and smiling.

“You don’t know how to show me do you?”

“Look, it’s not that easy for me to explain. It came to me pretty naturally.”

The buizel gave Riptide an unamused stare.

“Aw come on, don’t give me that look.” The totodile sighed. “Listen, just do what I do.”

Jonah also took this opportunity to get used to some of his new body’s functions. First, he began with trying to rotate his tails. “Come on Jonah, you did it last night.” He said to himself. After a few tries, he managed to get them to spin.

He then stopped before lowering his goggles and taking a few steps back. “Let's do this.”

Jonah then sank into the water and began to use his arms to propel himself. As he continued, Jonah started to spin his tails again. He kept this up until he eventually stopped using his arms all together.

“I’m doing it! I’m actually doing it!” The buizel thought, as he sped through the water. “This is actually pretty fun. Let’s see if I can go faster.”

Back on the surface, Riptide was lazily floating on the water. “This is nice…” The totodile thought. “Almost feel like I could fall asleep here… Probably shouldn’t… But then again… Five minutes wouldn’t hurt right…”

Just as his eyelids started to grow heavy, Riptide’s bliss was soon interrupted when Jonah shot out of the water. And kept going…

Despite the fact that the buizel was now a few feet in the air, he was still encapsulated in water. Riptide’s jaw dropped as he looked up at Jonah.

“Holy shit, he learned aqua jet…”

The water surrounding Jonah however, soon dissipated. And the buizel began to fall.

There was a loud splash before Jonah resurfaced. Riptide swam over to the slightly disoriented buizel, putting a hand on his back. “Looks like you learned a new move.”

Meanwhile on the beach, Luna and Wave were sleeping in the shade. While Sol stood out in the sun with his frill out, trying to soak up as much sun as possible.

Ivy and Tangle were strolling down the shoreline, looking for anything that washed up on the beach.

Dusty was sitting near Luna in the shade with a sketchbook in his lap. Every now and then, the cubone would look up at his friends on the beach.

“What’cha work’n on there...? Luna asked, yawning as she got up and walked towards Dusty.

“Oh, it’s nothing.” The cubone said as he quickly shut his sketchbook.

“Doesn't seem like nothing.” Luna said, jokingly.

After thinking a bit, Dusty sighed and opened it back up and showed Luna. On the page was a drawing of the beach, as well as the others doing the various activities Dusty witnessed them doing. “This is really good.” Said Luna.

“T-thanks…” Dusty said sheepishly.

“Mind if I see what else you've got in there?” Dusty slowly handed over his sketchbook to the umbreon. Luna slowly flipped through each page as she stared at each one. “Hmm…”

“ _So you guys are leavin already…_ ” Said Wave.

“Yeah, Cobalt might get his tail in a twist if we get back too late.” Said Luna.

“Well it was nice meeting you guys.” Said Tangle.

“Yeah, you too.” Said Ivy.

“Well whenever you’re able to, feel free to come back here.”

“Will do.” Riptide said.

It was nearly sunset by the time they made it back to the Cascade City guild. After heading inside, the six pokemon went off to their rooms.

“Today was fun.” Said Sol. “I’m glad you guys decided to come along.” He said, smiling.

“Well then maybe we could do it again some time.” Said Ivy.

“I’d like that…”

The two teams then split up. With team mire going down one hall, and team shine down the other. Luna then stopped walking, looking like she was thinking about something. “Sol, I’ll be right back.” The umbreon said, before turning around and walking away.

“So I guess this is where we’re _supposed_ to sleep.” Said Ivy, opening the wooden door in front of her.

As the four walked inside, Dusty felt a tap on his shoulder. “Oh, hey Luna.”

“Hey, umm… I just wanted to say. If you ever want to stop by our room… You can do that, if you want…”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Said Dusty.

Luna smiled, nodded and walked off.

“So what was that about?” Riptide asked, laying in one of the straw beds.

“Let’s just say it was an invitation.”


	8. Red and Blue

That night, three of the four pokemon lay awake in their beds. Jonah was writing in his journal, while Ivy and Dusty just stared at the ceiling.

“It kinda feels weird sleeping here.” Dusty said before turning towards Riptide, the totodile already fast asleep. “I’ll never get how he’s able to fall asleep so quickly.”

“Well that’s just because he’s Riptide.” Ivy said, smiling. The treecko then turned to face Jonah. “Hey.”

“Yeah.”

“Where you’re from… What’s it like?”

“Hmm…” The buizel thought for a bit before closing his journal. “Well… For one, it’s definitely more advanced… And I guess pokemon don’t act too differently from humans in some ways… Damn, if i still had my camera I could show you…”

“Camera?” Dusty said, tilting his head.

The buizel chuckled. “I guess it’s time I tell you a bit about my world.” Jonah said as he sat up in his bed. He then began to tell the pokemon about the various things from his world. From the wide array of technology, to the many sights, places, and people from the place he called home.

“See that one in the middle? That’s me.” Jonah said, as he held out a photo of himself and his friends. “We took this the day before we left…

“Woah… Ivy said, as she stared at the picture.

“You know... even though I haven’t known you guys for that long, the three of you kind of remind me of them…” Jonah said, smiling with tears in his eyes.

Later that night, all four pokemon were asleep. So naturally, none of them noticed the faint glow coming from Ivy’s bag.

Jonah soon woke up in the middle of… well… he didn’t know. There was no floor or ground to stand on. But somehow he wasn’t falling. And everything around him was just a glowing shifting blur. All except for one thing off in the distance. A lone figure that he couldn't quite make out.

“What is this?! What’s going on?!” Jonah shouted. But the figure remained silent. And soon, everything started to fade away.

The buizel then shot up out of bed, panting heavily with cold sweat running down his body. He looked around the room and saw that he hadn’t woken anyone up. He sighed before laying back down as he stared at the ceiling.

After a few minutes, the strange feeling Jonah had felt at the rare market returned. He turned to the side as a faint glow caught his eye in the dark room…

In the guild’s archives, Cobalt was sitting at a table that was covered in books. Also on the table was a small bag of luminescent gems. The lucario then reached into the bag, pulling out a gem and staring at it intensely. Cobalt then opened one of the large books and sighed. This was going to be a long night…

The next morning, Lilac wandered into the archives and found a barely awake Cobalt reading on the floor. “So this is where you’ve been hiding.” Lilac said, looking down at the lucario.

Cobalt looked up at the goodra and yawned. “I’m sorry... Did you need something?”

Lilac shook her head and sighed. “Cobalt, you shouldn’t do stuff like this when you barely sleep enough as is.”

The lucario sighed. “Alright fine, I’ll rest.” He said, placing a marker in the book before closing it.

The two stared at each other for a moment before the goodra crossed her arms. “I’m not leaving until you get off the floor. Because we both know the moment I leave you’ll go right back to whatever this is.”

The lucario rolled his eyes. “Alright fine, you caught me.” Cobalt said as he got up.

“Put the book down.”

“You got me off the floor, don’t push it…” The lucario tiredly said smiling.

Lilac and Cobalt then left the archives, and walked to Cobalt’s room. “Listen, ever since Jonah showed up, you’ve been out and about doing Arceus knows what. Now please rest.”

“Alright mom.” Cobalt said sarcastically. Lilac smiled, shook her head and walked off.

Once in his room, Cobalt laid in his bed and stared at the wall. “Two humans… First Amber, and now Jonah… There has to be something going on here…” He thought as his eyes started to close.

Lilac later stood outside Lance’s office and knocked on the door. There wasn’t a response at first, but soon the door opened slightly and the empoleon poked his head out. “Can you just give me a few minutes?”

True to his word. A few minutes later, the door opened. And Lilac watched as a swanna walked out of the room. “Well I guess that explains the state of his office… _Annnd_ now I sound like Cobalt.” Lilac thought as she walked in.

“So… Did you need something?...” Lance said, sounding embarrassed.

“When was the last time Cobalt ever took a break?”

“Is that a serious question?” Lance asked jokingly. “I mean this is Cobalt we’re talking about.”

“I guess you have a point there.”

“I’ll be honest, sometimes I’m surprised they chose me over him to be Cascade’s guildmaster.” Lance said, rubbing the back of his head.

“Speaking of which, don’t you have that meeting with the other guildmasters in a few days?”

“Don’t remind me…” Lance sighed. “Can I be honest with you? I don’t think some of the other guildmasters respect me…”

“Well… you did just…. The goodra said under her breath. “Look, it’s probably because you’re still relatively new compared to the other guildmasters.”

“I guess so…”

“If I say I respect you, will you make Cobalt take a break?” Lilac said jokingly.

“Done.”

The goodra smiled. “But really Lance… You got this.”

“Thanks…”

“Soooo, what’s her name?” Lilac said, smirking. Lance only gave her an unamused stare.

“You should just be glad this room has thick walls, I hear you bird pokemon tend to be kind of loud.” At that point, Lance could only sink in his chair in defeat.

“Are you done…”

“Maybe.”

“Are you sure you’re doing alright?” Dusty asked.

“Yeah, you look like shit.” Ivy said as she put her hand to the buizel’s forehead.

Jonah nodded. “Yeah… I’ll be alright, I’ve had hangovers worse than this.” He said while trying to sit up, before immediately laying back down and curling up. “On second thought, I’ll just lay here.”

“Well, we’re gonna head out.” Riptide said. “Feel better alright.”

After the three left, Jonah sluggishly got out of bed and rolled on to the floor. He dug his hand around under his bed until he finally felt something. The buizel pulled a small crystal out from under the straw bed. It was a light blue that faded into a light purple and was near identical to the one from the stand. Jonah rolled onto his back and held the crystal above his face. “What’re you doin’ to me?”

“Well, this is our first time taking a job off the board…” Said Dusty. “How about this one?”

“Nah.” Ivy said. “Look, don’t you think we should be challenging ourselves a bit? How about this one?” She said, pointing at the board.

_Please take me there: take me to the heart of Crimson Woods_

“But it’s rank C. Are you sure about this?” Dusty asked.

“We can handle that right? Said Ivy. “And besides, look at that reward too…” Dusty and Riptide slowly looked over at the treecko. “I said that last part out loud didn’t I?” The two nodded. “I’ll just grab this then…”

Team Mire soon met up with the client, a familiar looking charmander. “Flare…” Said Dusty, before looking over to his teammates. Namely Riptide, who stared at the charmander with his mouth agape.

“Well… this is awkward…” Said Flare.

“You have no fucking idea…” Riptide thought.

“So… Here's the deal. The trees in Crimson Woods secrete a sap that my dad likes to use. Normally he’d get it himself, but he just hasn’t been able to lately. And I know we’re not exactly on great terms. But I really need someone's help with this.”

Dusty, Ivy, and Riptide all looked at each other. The totodile looked off to the side a bit, before reluctantly giving a small nod.

It was a long walk to Crimson Woods from Cascade City. “I’m starting to see… why your dad… does this himself…” Riptide said in between breaths. “Having wings must be nice…” The four pokemon soon reached the top of a hill overlooking a sea of red leaves.

“Well… there it is.” Flare said, catching his breath.

**Crimson Woods: Floor 1**

“I didn’t think they'd be this vibrant…” Dusty said to himself as he scanned his surroundings. Each and every tree that lined the dungeon was as black as coal and were each filled with striking red leaves. A near endless expanse of red as far as the eye could see.

“This place kind of creeps me out a bit.” Riptide said, looking around.

“I think it’s kind of beautiful.” Said Dusty.

“If I remember correctly, this dungeon should have… nine floors.” Said Flare. “The good stuff should be at the end. And… Thanks… for coming along…”

“Let’s just get this over with.” Riptide thought.

**Crimson Woods: Floor 4**

As the four went deeper into the forest, they barely exchanged words except when fighting the occasional dungeon pokemon. “Heads up!” Flare yelled to Riptide, as a scizor leaped down towards him. The charmander then shot a fiery burst at the scizor, landing a direct hit.

“Nice shot…” Riptide said as he looked at the fallen pokemon behind him.

To say that Cobalt was bored out of his mind was an understatement. And all he could do was think about what Lance had said to him earlier.

“Take the rest of today off.” The lucario gave Lance a blank stare. “Cobalt… Cobalt…” Lance said, waving a flipper in front of Cobalt’s face.

“Did Lilac put you up to this?”

“Maybe…”

“What’d she say to you? Because your aura reeks of embarrassment.”

“I don’t want to talk about it… But seriously, when was the last time you ever just… took some time off?”

Cobalt looked out the window and down at the city. After spending a few minutes staring out the window, something got his attention. “I guess it _has_ been a while since I’ve been there…”

As the lucario walked down the streets of Cascade, he came across a large off-white colored tent with a large, orange avian face hanging on the front. Cobalt walked up to the tent and took a deep breath before walking in.

Inside, there was a blaziken repeatedly kicking a sandbag. And after jumping up and giving one final kick, she looked over to the lucario and came running before jumping up and kicking at him.

Cobalt blocked the kick, and came at her with his own attack with a series of quick punches. The blaziken blocked all but the last strike. Her foot was then set ablaze as she kicked upwards, with Cobalt jumping back and narrowly dodging.

The two then stood in silence as they stared at each other. Cobalt smiled. ”Well… It’s nice to see you too Ashe.” The lucario said holding out his paw. The blaziken then walked up to him, smirked and shook it. “Nice to see you too Blue. By the way, I think you got slower.”

“Well I don’t really get out as much as I used to…” Cobalt said as the two walked towards the center of the tent.

“So, how’s Guild life been treat’n ya lately?” Asked Ashe as she held the sandbag in place.

“Well, Lance made me take the day off today…” Cobalt said, punching the bag.

“Really now…” Said Ashe.

“I’m pretty sure Lilac made him do it.”

“Let me guess, she caught you sleep deprived again didn’t she? Ashe chuckled to herself. “So _that’s-_ ”

“Don’t you dare say it.”

“Why you were so slow.” The blaziken jokingly said. Cobalt simply rolled his eyes. “So how are Lance and Lilac anyways?” Ashe asked.

“Lilac’s doing good. And Lance, well he’s still Lance.”

“Well that’s good to hear.”

**Crimson Woods Floor 8**

“So… What’s it like at the guild?...” Flare asked, trying to strike up some kind of conversation.

“It’s alright, though I mean it is only our third day.” Said Ivy.

“Okay, I get it… Hey, I think I see the stairs.” Flare said, pointing at some trees that twisted together to resemble stairs.

After the four made their way up to the next floor, they came across a small clearing. Towards the end of the clearing was a massive tree. “Alright, here we are.” Flare said as he started taking jars out of his bag.

“So what’s so special about this sap anyways?” Ivy asked as they walked towards the large tree.

“Taste it and you’ll see.” Flare said smiling.

“ **Don’t count on it!** ” A booming voice yelled out.

“The fuck was that?” Riptide asked, stepping back. A large figure slowly stepped out from behind the tree. An ursaring.

“What the hell are you doing in _**my**_ territory!” The ursaring yelled.

“We just wanted some fucking sap! Calm down!” Ivy yelled back.

“Ivy! What the hell What are you doing! You’re just gonna make him mad!” Dusty whispered.

The ursaring growled. “Oh, it’s sap you want huh?... He said, taking a battle stance. “Then come and fucking get it.” The ursaring then came barreling towards them, the four pokemon diving out of the way. Flare then looked up and blew a cloud of smoke in the ursaring’s face. “Guys! Do something!”

Dusty then blew a stream of fire from his mouth towards their adversary. When the smoke cleared, the ursaring came at Dusty with a strong punch. The cubone tried to block the attack with his bone club, but was sent flying backwards into a tree.

“Dusty!” Ivy and Riptide yelled as they saw the cubone go limp. Turning towards the other three, the ursaring swiped at Riptide who countered by firing a heavy stream of water. Ivy then took advantage of the opening Riptide gave to attack. The treecko brought her hands together, creating a green orb and launched it at the ursaring’s face. Riptide then leapt up and bit the ursaring’s arm.

 **“ENOUGH!!!”** The ursaring yelled. Before letting loose a deafening roar. He then slammed Riptide against a tree and tore the totodile from his arm, before smashing him into the ground and holding him down.

Flare wasn't sure what came over him, but the charmander was furious. He then took the deepest breath that he possibly could. “GET! OFF OF HIM!” Flare yelled at the top of his lungs. As he continued to scream, the charmander’s yell then turned into a stream of fire.

Flare‘s body soon began to glow and change as the stream of fire got stronger. The ursaring then backed away from Riptide, trying to block the attack. Both the fire and glowing soon stopped. Flare and Ivy then pulled Riptide away from the ursaring. Ivy hastley dug through her bag and pulled out a reviver seed.

“Give this to Rip, I’ll go get Dusty.” She said as she tossed the seed to the newly evolved charmeleon before darting off to Dusty’s aid.

When Riptide came to, he saw Flare strike the ursaring with an electrified hand. “He evolved?... Riptide thought as he got up. The totodile tried to pull himself together before rushing towards the fight. As he ran, he aimed his water gun attack at the ground to propel himself into the air. His hand then began to glow a light blue color, and was surrounded by cold air. Striking the bear’s face with an ice punch.

And with that, it was done. The ursaring toppled over and collapsed. “Fine… Take the… Just take the stupid sap…” He said in between breaths.

It was sundown by the time the four came back to Cascade City. And they soon made their way into the guild’s main hall. Flare then stopped and turned towards team mire. “I really can’t thank you enough for helping me. Though I’m really, _really_ sorry about what happened back there… I put you guys in danger again…”

Riptide sighed and looked at the charmeleon and sighed. “It’s… It’s alright…”

“But I-”

“It’s… different this time… Riptide said as he glanced at his team. “You're the client. And I guess you _did_ kind of save my ass back there…” Riptide said with a slight smile.

“Well here, take this.” Flare said as he reached into his bag, taking out a jar full of red sap. “It’s the least I can do…”

“Hey.” Riptide said as Flare turned to leave. “See you around sometime…”

After the charmeleon left, Dusty, Ivy, and Riptide went up to their room and found Jonah staring out the window. “Oh, hey guys.” The buizel said, turning around to greet them.

“So I take it you’re feeling better?” Dusty asked.

“Kinda… So what the heck happened to you guys? Cause you’re not looking so great ethier.”

“It’s a long story…” Said Ivy.

“A story we can perhaps talk about over dinner…” Riptide said as his stomach started to growl.

Cobalt and Ashe sat on a bench and looked out at the ocean, the two watching the sunset. “This is nice…” Ashe said, looking out onto the water.

“Are you ever going to come back to the guild?” Cobalt asked.

“If I did, who would look after my dojo?” The blaziken said, smirking. “Besides, exploring isn't really my thing anymore.”

Cobalt got up and stretched. “Well, I think it’s about time I get going.”

“See ya around Blue. It was nice seeing ya.”

“By the way, can you do me a favor?” Cobalt asked.

“What’cha need?”

“Do you think you could help train one of the new… _rookies_?”

“Why’d you say it _like that_?”

“Well... to my knowledge, he knows no moves. And I’m pretty sure he’s never been in a fight before in his life.”

The blaziken shook her head and smiled. “I’ll see what I can do.”

As Cobalt slowly walked back to the guild, he looked up at the orange colored sky. “I guess this wasn’t so bad.”


	9. Training Day

Team Mire and Jonah sat in the dining hall and talked about the day’s events. They told the former human all about what happened in the Crimson Woods while on their mission with Flare. “So then the ursaring’s all like- _Fine, just take the damn sap_.” Ivy said, waving her hands around.

“Well now I’m kinda glad I didn’t come…” Jonah said under his breath as he took a bite from a large, red, spiky berry.

Dusty looked over to Jonah, and stuck his arm out. “Wait, Jonah. You may not wanna-” Jonah then began to hyperventilate as he slapped the table. Dusty slowly pushed a glass of water over to the panting buizel, who immediately snatched it up.

“What the hell was that!” Jonah said after finishing the glass.

“It’s a tomato berry.” Said Dusty. “They're kind of spicy…”

“Yeah… I noticed…”

“So are you gonna finish that or?...” Riptide asked, still chewing.

“Rip, you're gonna make yourself sick if you eat like that.” Said Ivy as she watched the totodile rapidly scarf down the berries in front of him.

“Look Ivy, you didn’t get knocked out back there. And let’s not forget that going on that mission was **your** idea.” Riptide said as he reached for the tomato berry on the table. “I deserve this.” He said, taking a bite of the berry.

“Glutton…”

“Loudmouth…”

“Can you two not?…” Said Dusty.

Jonah just stared at the totodile. “How…” The buizel thought, still feeling a burning sensation in his mouth. “So… Can we talk about something?...” Jonah asked.

“What about?” Asked Ivy.

“Do you guys think I should join the guild?...”

Dusk stood outside his and King’s room. His ears folded back as he listened to the series of bangs and crashes coming from the inside. The zorua readied himself and tried to open the door. “Dammit, it’s locked…” He thought, right before he heard something break. “I fucking swear, if he trashed my side of the room… King! Open the damn door!” Dusk said as banged on the wooden door. Everything went quiet before the zorua heard a click as the door slowly opened.

Dusk’s jaw dropped open as he stared at the warzone that was once the room he shared with King. “What. The fuck. Did you do?...”

King slowly peered out from behind the door to look at the zorua. The angry piplup looked as if he had just run a marathon. “It’s Flare… he’s-”

“You know what? I don’t want to hear it.” The zorua said as he turned around. “I can’t fucking deal with you when you get like this… Talk to me when you calm the hell down…” Dusk said, walking away. “And you're cleaning that up.”

“Why the hell do I put up this shit?...” Dusk said to himself. The zorua aimlessly wandered through the guild’s halls. He took a deep breath as he started to pace back and forth. Dusk kept pacing until he suddenly bumped into someone. “Hey watch it!”

“Sorry about that.” Said Sol with an open book in his hands. “Is something wrong?” The heliolisk asked.

“It’s nothing.” Dusk said as he walked away. Sol shrugged and kept walking to his room.

“Hey, did you get my paint?” Luna asked as Sol entered the room. The umbreon had an array of paints layed out in front of her along with a half painted canvas.

“Uhh…”

“You forgot didn’t you?...”

“Sorry, it’s just… I found this book and kinda… got distracted.”

The umbreon sighed. “Alright fine. I guess I can go a little longer without blue paint. So what do you think so far?” Sol walked up to the painting Luna was working on and stared at it. The unfinished painting displayed two dragon-like figures engaging in battle. “I like it.”

“So what’s the book too important for my paint about?” Luna jokingly asked.

“As a matter of fact, it’s about the same thing as that painting.”

Luna raised a brow. “So you remember the content of my painting, but not that I need blue paint?”

“Come on, this is interesting.” Sol said. “Listen, it says: _“In ancient times, two beings wielding tremendous power collided. The ensuing battle was so fierce, it ripped the land and sky apart. And some would say even more…”_

“Ooh. How ominous.” Said Luna.

“That’s not all.” Sol said, flipping through pages. “They say at the epicenter of where the battle took place lies a treasure, one unlike any other.”

“Does it say what?”

“Well, no one’s actually seen it… And those who have… _**never returned….**_ ” Sol said in a playfully spooky voice.

“Huh.”

“So you want to join?” Lance asked.

“Yeah… I do… I mean, as long as I’m here I kinda want to do _something_.” Said Jonah.

“Hmm, I guess we could have you take the test…” What do you think Cobalt?”

“I had a feeling this might happen, so I took the liberty of making some arrangements. Jonah, I ask that you meet with me tomorrow morning.”

“Uh… Sure…”

Jonah walked out of Lance’s office and back to the room he shared with Team Mire. As the buizel wandered the guild’s halls, he passed a few other teams. “Hopefully I’ll be able to get some part of my life back if this pans out.” Jonah thought.

“So how’d it go?” Asked Dusty as Jonah entered the room.

“They said they’d consider letting me take the test. Also Cobalt wants to meet with me tomorrow.” Said Jonah, walking towards the window.

“I wonder what for?” Said Dusty.

“I don’t know, he didn’t say. But I assume it’s something regarding the test.”

“Well I guess we’ll find out tomorrow.” Ivy said, stretching.

“By the way, what’s this?” Jonah asked as he held out a small crystal.

“What’s that doing over there?” Ivy said as she walked up to the buizel.

“Oh… I… found it on the floor.” He then handed the small gem over to the treecko.

“I found this while we were at Sapphire Cove. Pretty cool huh?” Ivy said.

“Yeah…”

Later that night, Jonah looked at his surroundings. “What the fuck…” The buizel once again found himself in this strange shifting place. He looked down, and like last time there was no floor to whatever this place was…

After taking a few deep breaths, he closed his eyes and took a step forward. Noticing that he hadn’t fallen to his death, Jonah continued to walk.

As he kept going, Jonah soon saw a figure off in the distance. He couldn’t quite make out who, or what was there. But as he got closer, the mysterious raised up their arm and appeared to be holding some kind of staff. The figure soon became enveloped in a bright light that only got brighter and brighter as Jonah got closer…

The buizel then shot up out of bed panting heavily. “Again?... Oh god… Oh my god, I can't breathe…” Jonah thought, putting a paw to his chest.

“Are you okay?...” Asked Dusty.

When Jonah came back to his senses, he saw Dusty, Riptide, and Ivy standing around him.

“Weird dreams?” Said Ivy.

“Yeah… And this might sound weird, but I think that crystal you found is doing this to…” Jonah then stopped mid sentence as he stared and pointed at the other side of the room. The others soon turned around and saw a cloaked figure.

“Who the hell are you?!” Riptide yelled. The intruder remained silent as they picked up Ivy’s crystal and stared at it. “Hey! That’s not yours you-”

“You’re not ready…”

“Not ready to do what, kick your ass breaking into our room! Cause I think I’m just about ready for that!” Yelled Ivy as she prepared to use energy ball.

The figure took out a long stick from their cloak. The stick had crystals tied to its tip that were identical to the one they held. “My apologies…” They said before a bright blue flash came from the makeshift wand.

“So how’d it go?” Asked Dusty.

“They said they’d consider letting me take the test. Also Cobalt wants to meet with me tomorrow.” Said Jonah, walking towards the window. “That’s weird, it was right here…” The buizel thought as he looked at the windowsill.

“I wonder what for?” Said Dusty.

“I don’t know, he didn’t say. But I assume it’s something regarding the test.”

“Well I guess we’ll find out tomorrow.” Ivy said, stretching.

“Hey… do you guys ever get that feeling that you’re being watched?” Jonah asked as he looked out the window. “What do you mean?” Riptide asked.

“Just a feeling…”

“It’s probably nothing…” The totodile said, yawning.

Jonah continued to look out the window. “Right…”

The next morning, Jonah and Team Mire walked down to the guild’s main hall where Cobalt was waiting for them. “Good, you’re here.” The lucario said.

“So what did you want to see me for?” Jonah asked.

“You said you wanted to join the guild, correct? Well today you’re going to start training to take the acceptance test.” Cobalt said as he started to walk off. “The sooner you start the better.”

“Well, I guess I’ll see you guys later.” Jonah said, following Cobalt.

The two then left the guild as Jonah followed the lucario down the streets of Cascade. They soon came across a large tent where a blaziken stood waiting for them.

“Hey! What took ya?” The blaziken said. “So, this the newbie you told me about?” She said, looking down at the buizel.

Cobalt nodded. “This is Jonah. Jonah, this is Ashe. She is going to help prepare you for the guild’s acceptance test.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t go too hard in ya… Unless ya piss me off.”

“Uh…” Jonah said as he stepped back a bit.

“Relax, I’m just kidding.” She said smiling. “Mostly…”

Ashe turned around and walked into the large tent, gesturing for Jonah to follow her. Inside the tent there were weights, sandbags, and other various things strewn about. “Okay, what moves do you know?” The blaziken asked.

“Uh… Water gun and… damn it what’s it called… uhh, aqua jet.”

“Hmm, just two huh… Well then we’ll start there. Follow me.”

The two went out the back end of the tent, and on to what appeared to Jonah as some kind of dirt battlefield. Ashe walked over to one side of the field and told Jonah to stand on the other. “Okay, I want you to try and hit me with aqua jet.”

“Alright Jonah, how did you do this last time?... You were swimming… Yeah, you were swimming.” Jonah thought as he lowered his goggles and spun his tails. The buizel then became encapsulated in water before shooting up into the air.

“I’m doing it!” Jonah thought. “Wait, how do I steer?... Should I lean to the side?...” He did so and started coming back down. However in doing so, he realized just how high up he actually was. “I’m gonna fucking crash…”

Ashe stood and watched as Jonah soared back and forth through the air. “Blue wasn’t fucking kidding… This could take a while…” She said rubbing the back of her head.

Team Mire stood in front of the job board, staring at the plethora of missions on the board. “How about this one?” Said Ivy pointing at the board.

“I don’t think you should pick any missions for a while after what happened yesterday…” Riptide said in a somewhat annoyed tone.

“Hey! It’s not my fault that ursaring attacked!”

As Riptide and Ivy argued, Dusty continued to look up at the board. “Let’s do this one.” He said pointing at a job posting with his bone club. “Guys!” The two stopped and looked at the cubone.

“It’s a rescue mission in Serene Woods, any thoughts?” Said Dusty as he tore the job posting off the board.

“I don’t see why not. What could go wrong?” Said Riptide.

“Oww…” Said Jonah said with paws on his head. He had lost control while using aqua jet and crashed into the ground. “Well, if it’s any consolation I've seen worse.” Ashe said holding out an oran berry. “I noticed that you were kind of stiff while you were using that move. Try loosening up a bit this time.”

After a quite few more attempts, Jonah finally gained some control over aqua jet. As he sped towards Ashe, he was about to land a hit on her. That is until the blaziken’s foot burst into flames as she kicked up and out at the buizel. A cloud of steam erupted as Jonah went flying backwards. “What the hell was that for?!” Jonah said, lying on the ground.

“I said you needed to land a hit on me, I didn’t say I wouldn't hit back.”

“Touché…” The buizel said as he got up. “Wait, did I use that word right?” He thought.

“Alright, well now I want to see how you are with water gun.”

“Are you gonna kick me in the face if I do this too?” Jonah asked with an unamused look on his face.

“Why? Are you into that?” Ashe said jokingly. “Just hit me with your best shot alright.”

Jonah fired a jet of water from his mouth at the blaziken, who immediately dodged the attack. The two of them kept this up for a while until Ashe retaliated by blowing a steam of fire from her beak.

Jonah jumped out of the way and onto the ground. “You know, you could have used aqua jet to dodge that and attack m-” Ashe brought up her arms to guard as Jonah came flying towards her.

“Alright! I’ll hand it to ya, that was faster and has some more power behind it.” She then flung her arms forward, knocking Jonah back. “Well come on, don’t stop now.” Ashe said, smiling.

“You’re _still_ not talking?...” King said as he and Dusk were walking through the city’s main square, carrying boxes of supplies back to the guild.

“Okay.” King said, with a slight hint of anger in his voice. “This is starting to get really annoying. Ever since last night, you haven’t said shit to me!”

“If we talk, you’ll just start bitching about Flare. So we have nothing to talk about.”

“Look, I’m sorry about the room, if that’s what you're mad about.”

The zorua rolled his eyes. “It’s not just the room. You have a fucking anger problem King.” Dusk sighed. “Look, we’re friends right?” The piplup nodded. “Then as your friend, let me just say that temper of yours is gonna get you in trouble someday.”

“Yeah, sure.” King said sarcastically.

“Fine, but if something happens, don’t say I didn’t fucking warn you.”

“You really should listen to Dusk…” King turned around and saw a charmeleon standing behind him holding a small crate of berries.

“The fuck are you doing here?... And here I thought you didn’t want to talk, torch-ass. The piplup said as he set down the things he was carrying. “What? You think that just ‘cause you evolved, it makes you better than me now?”

“Well I _did_ want to have a civil dis-”

“Look, you’re Riptide’s friend now right?! So if you wanna fucking talk, you can go talk with him!”

Flare looked down at the angry piplup and sighed. “You still haven’t fucking changed King…” He said as he walked away.

All King could do was stand there. The piplup looked like he was about to explode. But before anything could happen, Dusk went up to him and tried to snap King out of it. “Hey, King.” The Dusk said, tapping the penguin. “Let’s just get this stuff back to the guild alright…”

“You did well today.” Ashe said walking up to Jonah. The two had spent the past few hours working on the power and duration of his attacks.

“You're getting much better at using your attacks, but part of battling is knowing how to apply those attacks. I also think it would be best if you learned some more moves, but we’ll deal with that later.”

“Did you really _have_ to kick me every time I came at you?” Jonah asked. The exhausted buizel was lying face up on the ground trying to catch his breath. “Like I told you earlier, some attacks can be used for evasion. If you can do that, I might stop.” Ashe said smiling.

“Then I guess I better work on that.” Said Jonah, sitting up.

“So, you need me to take you back to the guild?” Asked Ashe.

“Yeah… I still don’t really know my way around here…”

“Eh, I get’cha. Don’t tell anyone, but I used to be _really_ bad with directions. By the way. Why _do_ you want to join the guild?”

“Hmm?”

“Just curious.”

“Let’s just say… I came here to find something no one’s ever seen before.”

Ashe snickerd. “And to think I just joined so I had an excuse to fight other mons.”

“You're in the guild?”

“Used to be, but what can I say? Sometime’s plans change.”

“You have no idea…” Jonah thought.

As the two pokemon walked through the busy streets of Cascade on their way back to the guild, Ashe and Jonah began to talk a bit more about Ashe’s time in the Cascade guild. She spoke about how she and her old partner used to hate each other. But after a mission went bad, things changed and they became the best of friends.

“So wait. If you left the guild, what happened to your partner?” Asked Jonah.

“He left too. He’s actually in town if you want to meet him. He runs a place called the Embertail Diner. He’s almost _always_ there. I’ll never get how ol’ Torch is able to stay cooped up like that for so long… Well, looks like we’re here… Jonah?”

The buizel in question was a few steps behind her and staring off into space. “Oh… Sorry… It’s just this weird feeling that I had last night came back.”

As the two walked into the guild, a lone hooded figure stood watching from a distance. A second soon approached them from behind. “You've already retrieved the crystal… Why have you not returned yet?”

The first let out a sigh. “You… wouldn’t understand…”

Jonah and Ashe walked into the guild’s main hall where they were soon met by Dusty, Ivy, and Riptide. The three pokemon were less than happy, with looks of mild anger and annoyance on their faces. “Hey guys… Something wrong?...” Asked Jonah.

“Well.” Said Ivy. “We went off to Serene Woods for a rescue mission…”

“And?”

“Our so called “client in distress” tried to fucking jump us!”

“Yeah… Turns out he was a wanted thief known for pulling stuff like this…” Dusty said with his head down.

“But we beat his ass and got a TM for our efforts.” Riptide said, smiling.

“Which one?” Asked Ashe.

“Ice Punch. None of us can use it, so we were wondering if you want it, Jonah.”

“What’s it do?” Asked Jonah.

“It’s something to help you learn a new move.” Said Ashe.

“Okay… I guess?”

“Well, I’m gonna get going.” Ashe said as she turned around. “I’ll be seeing you later Jonah.”

“So, who’s your friend?” Ivy asked as the four watched as the blaziken left.

“She’s helping me train for the guild test.”

“Huh.”


	10. Boiling Point

“They said they’d be here…” Riptide said as the four pokemon sat in the guild’s main hall.

“Who said they'd be here?” Jonah asked, stretching.

“Sol and Luna, before you came back we made plans to go out to eat.” Riptide said slouching over. “What’s taking them so long...?”

“Is food all you ever think about?” Ivy asked.

“Well sometimes I think about you…” The totodile said, smiling and giving a wink. Ivy’s cheeks turned a deeper shade of green as Riptide and Dusty started to chuckle. “NOT FUNNY!” Ivy yelled, punching Riptide in the shoulder.

Jonah watched as the three bantered. He began to think back to before all this happened. Back when he and his colleagues… no, his friends… had a conversation similar to this. “I swear, sometimes they act just like them…” The buizel thought.

“Hey guys.” said Luna as she and Sol walked towards the group. “Sorry we’re kinda late. Sol won’t pull his head out of this damn book.” The umbreon said looking over at the heliolisk, whose face was still buried in said book.

“ _Remnants of the beasts that command time and space, I call upon thou to transcend our reality..._ ” Sol said to himself as he continued to read.

“Did he just say what I think he said…?” Jonah thought.

“So I was thinking we could go to this place we found called… Embertail, I think it was.” Luna said, putting a paw to her chin. The three members of Team Mire went wide-eyed, and began to slowly look at each other.

“Is there a problem?” Luna asked.

“Oh.. uh, no. No it’s nothing…” Said Dusty. “Right guys?...”

“As long as it’s not too far… Everything still hurts after what Ashe did to me…” Jonah said rubbing his back.

“Well here we are.” Said Luna.

“Yeah… Here we are…” Riptide said under his breath. As Sol, Luna and Jonah walked inside, Riptide, Ivy, and Dusty stood and stared at the doorway. “Why does this feel… weird?” Riptide Said.

“I mean, I know we’re on good terms now but…”

“Hey, what are you guys still doing out there?” Sol asked as he opened the door. “Oh, sorry.” Said Dusty as the three walked in.

The three made their way over to a large table in the corner where the others were waiting for them. Looking around, they noticed that there wasn’t anyone else present. “Looks like things are kinda slow right now.” Dusty said as he looked around.

“Whatever, that just means more for us.” Riptide said as Ivy rolled her eyes.

“Seriously Sol?” Luna said as she watched the heliolisk take his book out of his bag.

“Alright, alright, I’ll put it back.” The heliolisk said, stuffing the book back in his bag.

“What’s that book about anyways?” Asked Jonah.

“Here we go…” Luna said to herself.

“It’s about the legend of the guardians of time and space.” Said Sol. “And how the massive battle they had shaped our world.” Jonah simply stared at the heliolisk like he had two heads. “Huh…”

“The Great War of Time and Space.” Sol said, waving his hands out as his frill slowly opened. “I mean there are a few other stories in there, but this-”

“Wow, look at this.” Luna said, waving a menu in front of Sol’s face. “Check it out. They have tamato berry curry, your favorite!” Jonah suddenly felt ill at the mention of tamato berries, putting a paw to his chest remembering what happened after trying one last night.

“Alright fine.” Said Sol, grabbing the menu. “There’s no need for you to get… _heated_.” His response earned a loud groan from the umbreon as she visibly cringed.

“Hey guys.” Flare said as he walked up to the group of six.

“Hey Flare…” Riptide said, smiling nervously.

“So, have you all decided on something?”

“You could at least try to be more gentle with him.” Said Cobalt. He and Ashe were sitting outside on a bench sharing some dried berries.

“If I was gentle, he wouldn’t learn anything. And besides, he’s getting better… kind of…” Ashe said as she popped one into her beak. “I have a question.”

“Ask away.”

“You finally figure out how he got here?”

“I didn’t realize you were curious.” Cobalt jokingly said.

“Well it’s not every day I get to train a human.” Cobalt shook his head and gave a slight smile.

“Well to answer your question, I haven’t asked yet. Lilac and Lance want to wait a bit longer, give him more time…”

“Hey, doesn't Lance have that thing soon?” Ashe asked.

“Yes, and I’ll be going with him.”

“So let me guess, ya want me to come and help with the guild ‘cause ya don’t want to leave Lilac by herself.” The blaziken said, holding up a talon. “Look, I’ll do it. But you owe me Blue.”

“Thank you. Just… try not to wreck the place okay…”

“Aww… Don’t you trust me?” Ashe said, giving a devilish grin.”

Cobalt turned his head and sighed. “Maybe this was a bad idea…”

As the six pokemon waited, they continued to talk. Sol kept going on about the tales in his book, one of which was about a Bagon who longed to fly so badly he created a pair of wings made from wax and a skarmory’s feathers.

“Wax and feathers… Huh, I guess they have their own variations of these stories.” Jonah thought as Sol was reading.

_“But as he glided over the ocean, he wanted to see just how high he could go. So the bagon flapped his new wings as hard as he could. He had done it, he had begun to ascend. He was focused, nothing was going to stop him from touching the sun."_

_"But as he went higher, the wax had begun to melt. The bagon watched as the wings he had built fall apart as he plummeted into the sea below…”_

“Well that was sad…” Said Ivy. “Are all of our ancestor’s stories this depressing?”

“Well it’s a cautionary tale about being overly ambitious… Should I have gone with a different story…?”

“So Jonah, we hear you might be joining the guild.” Said Luna, trying to change the conversation.

“Yeah…”

“Something wrong?”

“I’m just a bit worried about this whole test thing.”

“Eh, It’s not that bad.” Said Ivy. “As long as you have some idea of what to do inside a dungeon, you really just have to worry about the combat test.”

“So I’m screwed.” Jonah said looking down.

Ivy then leaned over to the buizel. “I thought you said you used to be a treasure hunter.”

Jonah then looked up at the treecko and gave a forced smile. “Well it’s not like I’ve had to fight others with elemental attacks before. I don’t even remember the last time I got into an actual fight.” He thought. “Well, aside from earlier today if that counts…”

A loud growl was soon heard by everyone at the table and everyone turned to look at Riptide. “You're lucky we’re the only ones here right now.” Said Ivy.

“Sorry…”

Flare soon walked up to their table carrying two plates.” “The rest will be out soon.” Flare said as he placed them down. He then walked over to Riptide and leaned in. “Is it cool if we talk later? It’s… important…”

“I’m telling you. You can’t get this kind of stuff at the guild.” Sol said, gesturing with his spoon.

“Yeah, no kidding.” Said Riptide.

“Your actions in the dining hall last night say otherwise…” Ivy muttered.

“Ivy, if you’re in love with me just say so.” Riptide sarcastically said.

“Are they always like this?” Luna asked.

Dusty nodded. “You get used to it…”

“I have no idea what a custap berry is, but now I must have more…” Jonah said after taking a bite of a pastry. Despite being extremely sweet, it had a slight bitterness that kept it from being too overpowering.

“I’m glad you like it.” Flare said as he was clearing off a nearby table. “It’s actually the first time making them…” The charmeleon said as he moved on to another table.

Jonah watched as the chameleon weaved between tables as he cleared them each off, his tail raised up and close to his body so as to not ignite his surroundings. “Uh… Flare right…?” Asked Jonah.

“Yes, do you need something? If it’s about my tail, it kind of teaches you to be aware of your surroundings.”

“Well actually, is Torch here by any chance?”

“Oh Yeah, my dad’s in the back. I can go get him if you-”

“Flare, get ready to start closing up after your friends leave.” A charizard said he walked out from a large wooden door.

“Hey dad, this guy wants to talk to you.” Flare said, gesturing to Jonah.

Torch stared at the buizel for a brief moment before walking up to him. “Jonah, is it?” The charizard said in a gruff, slightly intimidating voice.

“U-Uh, yes sir…” Jonah said smiling nervously.

“There’s no need to be formal with me. So you’re that buizel Ashe is training right?” Jonah nodded. “Arceus help you…” Torch said, smiling and shaking his head. “Don’t get me wrong. As much as I like Ashe, she can sometimes be a bit much…”

“I’ll catch up with you guys in a bit.” Riptide said as the others left. Flare walked up to the totodile and pulled up a chair. “So, what did you want to talk about?” Riptide asked.

“It’s King… I ran into him earlier today.”

“And?...” “I just want to warn you, he seems like he’s gonna blow soon…”

As they walked back to the guild, Jonah started to think about the stories Sol mentioned in his book earlier. “Hey Sol… Do you mind if I borrow that book?” Jonah asked.

“Sure. You like this kind of stuff too?”

“Well let’s just say there’s something in there that’s got my attention.”

_So today was my first day of training for the guild’s acceptance test. I got my ass kicked… several times… I mean, it’s not like I was expecting this to be easy. But did Ashe really need to go for the face? But she seems to have some faith in me, so I guess that’s something. Apparently she used to be in the Cascade Guild._

_I also got my hands on something called a TM. They said it’s supposed to let me learn some new attack called Ice Punch. It kind of looks like a CD, but I have no idea how I’d use it in place like this. I swear things here just get weirder and weirder. But I really hope I can pass this test. If I can't get back, I’d at least like to be able to go back to what I used to do before all of this…_

_We also went out to eat with Team Shine today. And all I can say is that the more time I spend with Dusty, Ivy, and Riptide. The more they remind me of you guys… Seriously, they’re almost just like you. It’s weird, but also kind of refreshing in a way. It’s almost like you’re still here…_

_Oh yeah, Sol also lent me this book that has some interesting stuff in it. I think it might help me better understand what happened to me._

“Shit…” Jonah said to himself as he looked through his journal. “I’m running out of pages… They probably have extras here right?” He thought. The buizel rolled off his straw bed to begin his search for a new journal.

“Where are you going?” Asked Dusty, looking up from his sketchbook.

“Oh, I was just gonna go see if there’s anything I can use to replace this.” Jonah said holding up his journal.

“I think there were some in the archives.” The cubone said looking back down.  
Riptide soon walked into their room, passing Jonah.

“There you are.” Said Ivy. “I hope you didn’t…” Riptide just slowly walked to his bed before collapsing on top of it. “You alright?” The treecko asked.

“Yeah… It’s nothing. I’m just… kinda tired…”

As Jonah entered the archives, he started looking around through desks and boxes for a new journal. “Seriously, nothing… How many do these guys go through?” He then turned his attention to a crate over twice his height sitting in the corner. “Maybe there’s some in there.” Jonah thought as he walked towards it.

The buizel looked up at the crate and then down at his short orange legs. “Fuck…”

“Need some help?” A voice called out. Jonah turned around and saw King carrying a small stack of books. Jonah raised a brow as he stared at the piplup. “Sure…” The two then began piling up surrounding books for Jonah to stand on.

Looking inside, Jonah bent forward and reached inside grabbing a notebook. As he did so, he felt his feet lose contact with the large books beneath them. “Hey King, I think the stack fell…” Jonah said, sounding slightly concerned.

He was now stuck on the edge of the crate as it began to dig into his abdomen. “King… King… He’s gone isn’t he…”

“Nope, still here.” The piplup said.

“Well are you going to help me or not? This is starting to hurt.”

“Here’s the thing, word around the guild is that you plan on joining. So I’ll help… If you have a battle with me.”

“Jonah’s sure is taking a long time.” Ivy said. “I wanted to ask him about more human world stuff…” The door to their room soon creaked open as Jonah slowly walked inside tightly holding a notebook against his stomach.

“What happened to you?”

“King happened.” Jonah groaned.

“What. Did he do…?” Riptide angrily asked.

“It’s what he didn’t do.” Jonah said as he plopped face up on his bed. “I got stuck on the edge of this massive crate… And he wouldn't help me down unless I agreed to have a battle with him.”

“And you accepted?!”

“No. I didn’t… I rolled off the thing and told him to shove it.”

Riptide gritted his teeth and started walking towards the door. “Yow better not be doing what I think you’re doing.” Ivy said as she hastily approached the totodile.

“If he wants a battle so bad, I’ll give him one!” Riptide said, storming out the door. Dusty shot up out of his bed and chased after him.

“Riptide, please don’t!” Dusty said running down the hall, trying to catch up to the totodile. “You’ll just be giving him what he wants if you do this…”

Riptide then came to a stop and looked down. “Fine…”

Back in their room, Jonah and Ivy were talking more about the human world while they were waiting for Riptide and Dusty to come back.

“So… Anywhere in the world… You can just communicate?”

“Pretty much.” Jonah paused as a thought crept into his mind. “So… I know you guys don’t like King, given the whole “cave incident”. But I feel like Riptide hates him more than you and Dusty do. Did something else happen?”

“Well… From what Rip and Dusty have told me, most of it happened before I met them. But, Rip says the worst of it started the day they met Dusty. Believe it or not, the two of them actually used to be friends…”

It was an eventful day in Bluefield Town as many of the young pokemon who lived there were gathered near the town square. The crowd had formed a large circle and were cheering the names of the four pokemon battling in front of them.

“Come on King and Riptide!”

“You got this Ray!”

“Take them down Belle!”

King fired a beam of cold energy from his beak at an opposing roselia. And Riptide charged forwards with a rush of water beneath him, hitting a blitzle dead in the face. The blitzle and roselia both collapsed, and lay on the dirt field.

A scraggy walked up to the fallen pokemon and stood over them. “Ray and Belle are down! Riptide and King win!” The majority of the crowd erupted with excitement as King held out his flipper before Riptide slapped it.

“Yeah that’s right, suck it losers!” King yelled. Riptide rolled his eyes.

“You know, you can at least _try_ to be a little nicer when we win.”

“Come on Rip, the two of us are the best in town.” King said slapping the totodile on the back. “And they need to know that this is what happens when you mess with the best!” The piplup said as he turned to face the crowd, who began to cheer his name.

After a few minutes, the group of pokemon began to disperse. While King and Riptide went their separate ways back home. Riptide soon approached a wooden house where a feraligatr stood outside waiting for him. “Riptide, where have you… You out roughhousing with your friends again weren't you…?”

“Well mom, I like to think of it as training under real life combat conditions.” Riptide said, puffing his chest out. Earning a chuckle from the feraligatr. Something soon caught Riptide’s attention as a skull-covered face peeked out from behind his mother. “Who’s that…?”

The feraligatr slowly stepped to the side. “This is Dusty.” She said gesturing to the shy cubone. “Your father found him during a rescue mission. Apparently he can’t stay at the guild so he’s going to stay with us.”

Riptide slowly walked up to the cubone and smiled as he held out his hand. “Hey, I’m Riptide.” Dusty slowly held out a shaky hand. “H-Hi…”

“So as you can probably tell, after a while the two of them became closer. Like, anyone who looked at Dusty wrong had to deal with Rip close.”

“Wait, so what does this have to do with King?” Asked Jonah.

“I was getting to that.” Ivy bluntly said. “Anyways, King really didn’t like Rip hanging out with Dusty so much. And…”

Ivy paused when she noticed Dusty standing in the doorway. A look of shock crept over her face as she and the cubone locked eyes. “How much of that did you hear…?”

Dusty just stood there silently lowering his head. He turned to close the door before walking towards the two, sitting on the floor and taking a deep breath.

“Riptide and King had plans to be an exploration team together… And Riptide suggested to King to let me join…

“Him. You want **him** to join us…?” King said, crossing his flippers.

“Come on King…”

“Fine, but I’m gonna have to test him.” The piplup said, smirking.

“Just don’t go too hard on him alright.”

“Yeah whatever…” The piplup said as he walked towards the cubone.

“Alright Dusty. You want to join us, right.” The cubone took a step back and nodded. “Then show me what you've got.” King said, taking a battle stance.

“Huh?”

King then fired a fast stream of bubbles at the cubone. Dusty waved around his bone club as an attempt to block the attack. It soon however became too much, and the bone club was knocked out of his hands.

King then lunged towards the cubone with his beak pointed out and began to spin rapidly, landing a direct hit. This caused Dusty to fly back, hitting a small tree. King then shot a beam of cold energy at Dusty, and ice soon began to form around the cubone’s body, pinning him to the tree.

KIng then looked up and raised his flippers as a massive vortex of water began to form. Seeing this, Dusty frantically tried to free himself, but to no avail. King then flung the watery vortex at the tree. And with that, it was over.

King then walked up to the cubone and put his foot on his chest. “What was that about wanting to join us again?” The piplup said in a voice that was somehow even colder than his ice beam.

“King!” Riptide yelled. King looked back at the totodile and got off of Dusty before walking away.

“What the hell was that?” Riptide angrily asked.

“What?” King was met with a glare from Riptide.

“Don’t think I don’t know what this is about. Ever since Dusty showed up, you’ve been acting all weird whenever he’s with us.”

“Because I’m not gonna be replaced by some weak ass pokemon who couldn't clear a low level dungeon! I mean seriously, why’d your dad even fucking bother with-” Before he could finish his sentence, King was spayed in the face with a blast of water.

As Dusty caught his breath and sat up, he could see Riptide and King exchanging blows. He looked to the side at his bone club laying on the ground.

“And I threw it at King… it missed, but then Riptide hit him in the face with ice punch.”

“Oh, that reminds me…” Jonah said as he took out the TM. “Since Riptide knows ice punch, you think he can show me how to do it?”

“I guess…”

“Great, where is he?”

“He said he wanted to be alone for a bit…”

Riptide stood in front of one of the many wooden doors that lined the guild’s halls. He knocked on it and waited for a response. King soon opened the door and scowled upon seeing the totodile. “The fuck are you doing here?”

“You wanted a battle right…?”

“I don’t know…” King said, smirking. “I think you’ve gone soft from hanging around Dusty and… what’s his name, for so long… In more ways than one might I add.” The piplup said as he eyed Riptide up and down. “But then again I’ve been wanting to do this for a while.”

Dusty, Ivy, and Jonah made their way to the dining hall to look for Riptide, but found no sign of him there.

“That’s weird… I thought he’d be here…” Dusty said as he started to think. “Unless…”

“Unless wha-” Ivy said before the realisation hit her. “Oh…”

“What?” Jonah asked.

“We need to go. Now.” Dusty said as he rushed out of the dining hall. The others soon followed as the three ran upstairs.

Dusk was shifting about in his bed, trying to sleep. But he just… couldn’t. The zorua soon sat up and sighed. “You said you wanted nothing to do with this Dusk…” He said to himself.

“Fucking hell, I can’t belive I’m doing this…” Dusk muttered as he got up. He soon heard a knock at the door. Opening it he wasn’t completely surprised to see who it was.

“If you're looking for the blue idiots, they're not here.”

“So where are they?” Ivy said, crossing her arms.

“Look, I’ll take you to where they went. But only because this won’t end well if they aren't stopped.”

Outside, it was starting to get dark. Riptide and King made their way through the near empty streets of Cascade. “Damn, it is surprisingly quiet out here…” Riptide thought. The two soon found themselves in front of a large white tent, with a blaziken’s likeness on the front.

“Hey Ashe!” King yelled. “We need to use the battlefield!”

“And you're sure they came here?” Ivy asked Dusk as she stared at Ashe’s dojo.

The zorua nodded. “Look, I have nothing to gain from lying or even being here right now… I Just wanna go to bed…” Dusk said, yawning.

“You could have just stayed in your room and told us where to go.” Jonah said, crossing his arms. “And yet here you are.”

“Don’t fucking sass me…” Dusk said, bumping into the buizel as he walked past him and into the tent.

“More of you? Shouldn’t you guys all be in the guild or somethin’?” Ashe asked.

“Where’s Riptide and King?!” Dusty frantically asked.

Ashe turned around and gestured to the four to follow. The blaziken opened the back end of the tent, giving them all a clear view of the now heavily damaged battlefield.

“I’m gonna head out for a bit.” Ashe said, turning around. “I trust you guys won’t do anything stupid. **_Right…?_** ” The blaziken said glaring. The four pokemon rapidly nodded in response. “Good.” Ashe said as she smiled and left.

Riptide and King stood on either side of the field catching their breath, suggesting their fight had gone on for a while.

King charged at Riptide with drill peck, the totodile blocking with ice punch. Riptide soon retaliated with waterfall, launching the piplup into the air. King then attacked with ice beam, landing a direct hit on Riptide.

King immediately followed up this attack with drill peck. But as he came barreling towards the totodile, Riptide reared his arm back and threw the hardest ice punch he possibly could.

“You sure… you wanna keep this up Rip…? Your hand’s bleeding…” King said between breaths.

“You don’t… get to… fucking call me that…” Riptide said panting. “And you're one to talk… So’s your face…”

King put a flipper to his forehead and felt around. Bringing it back into view, there was a splotch of red amongst his blue feathers.

As the two stood there, bright lights began to come off their bodies. As the glow continued, their forms soon started to change.

“Are Rip and King-”

“They’re evolving…”

When the light faded, a croconaw and prinplup now stood on the battlefield.

While catching his breath, King saw out of the corner of his eye that the rest of team mire and Dusk were watching the brawl.

“Hey… Rip… The last time we fought like this… we were interrupted by a certain spectator… Let’s make sure that doesn't happen again…” King said as he turned towards their “audience”. The prinplup inhaled deeply before firing off ice beam.

Dusty’s eyes widened as the beam of cold energy sped towards him. The cubone braced himself, and held his club in front of him to try and block the attack… But nothing happened.

Dusty lowered his bone club and saw Riptide shielding him from the attack before collapsing.

“Heh… I… win…” King said between breaths as he slowly walked towards the fallen croconaw, putting a webbed foot on his stomach.

“You really have lost your edge…” The prinplup said as he ground his foot into Riptide’s middle. “But hey, at least we both got something out of this…” Said King as he went to make his leave with Dusk.

“Well, I hope got what you fucking wanted.” Dusk whispered, sounding annoyed.

“I did, actually.”

“I thought I told you-”

“Hey, **he** came to **me**. Listen Dusk, you might be scared of him. But I’m not.” The zorua just stood and glared at him. “Egh, fine. I’ll lay off for a bit, happy? But only ‘cause that was actually a decent battle.”

Dusk simply rolled his eyes. “Whatever…”

Ashe soon came back and immediately felt the tension in the air. The blaziken looked around at the six pokemon and sighed. “ _Yeah…_ Let’s not tell Lance and Cobalt about this…”

For Team Mire, the walk back to the guild was silent. Dusty looked behind him as Riptide lagged behind them.

The croconaw looked at the bandages on his arm, and then behind him at King who immediately looked away. Upon returning to the guild, Ashe turned around and inhaled.

“Remember. If anyone asks what happend, you were training with me.”

Later in their room, Dusty, Ivy, and Jonah stood around Riptide.

“Why?” Dusty said with a hint of frustration in his voice. “I told you if you did this, you’d just be giving him what he wants.”

“I just-”

“He was gonna keep fucking with us whether or not you did that!” Dusty then saw Riptide look down.

“Riptide, we’re not mad… It’s just… I don’t want you to get in trouble, alright…” Riptide slowly nodded. “Come here…” Dusty said as he hugged the croconaw. “Just don’t do anything stupid like that anymore.”

“Yeah… I’ll try…” Riptide said. “But hey, look on the bright side… I finally evolved.” He said smiling, before Ivy lightly smacked him in the back of the head.

“I think you might be missing the point here buddy.”

“And to think all this all started today because I wanted a new journal…” Jonah thought.


	11. Seaside Skirmish

_The world shook, and the skys tore open as the two beasts clashed. The ground split as the Guardian of Time let out a deafening roar, striking down Palkia. Refusing to concede, the Guardian of Space charged at Dialga. The two dragons continued to fight as bright lights began to dance across the sky. And no sooner as the fight had resumed, the two soon vanished._

“Hey, Jonah!” Ivy said, ripping the buizel’s attention away from the book Sol loned him. “We’re gonna head out.”

Jonah looked back down at the book and sighed as he closed it. “And just as it was starting to get good to…” He thought.

“Wait up.” Jonah said to the treecko. “I almost forgot that I’m meeting with Ashe again today…” The buizel winced and slowly turned towards Riptide. “Sorry… I guess you probably don’t want to talk about that right now…”

“Nah, It’s fine. Besides, I’m too tired to care about that now anyways… I barely slept at all last night…” The croconaw said yawning. “Why didn’t anyone tell me that evolving would make finding a sleeping position so hard…”

As the four arrived downstairs, they noticed a large crowd of pokemon gather in the main hall. “I wonder what’s going on?” Dusty asked.

“Whatever it is, it must be important.” Ivy said, walking towards the crowd.

Lance and Cobalt stood behind a podium before the room full of pokemon. While Lilac and Ashe stood off to the side.

“What's Ashe doing here…?” Jonah thought.

“Alright everyone, listen up!” The empoleon said, waiting for the crowd to quiet down.

“Okay… So let's get right to the point. Tomorrow, Cobalt and I are going to leave for a while to meet with the other guild masters.”

Cobalt cleared his throat. “While we’re gone, Lilac and Ashe will be in charge of things around here.” The lucario said gesturing to the goodra and blaziken.

“She’s gonna be here…?” Jonah said to himself as Ashe glanced at him and winked.

Cobalt continued to talk about some other things that Jonah and Team Mire mostly tuned out, as most of it didn’t relate to them.

“And whoever is writing vulgar messages on the wall downstairs will be punished accordingly if caught.” The lucario said with an unamused glare on his face.

As the crowd soon dispersed. Lance looked down and sighed.

“You doing alright?” Ashe asked.

“He’s just a bit nervous about this whole thing.” Lilac said.

“Huh, never thought I’d hear “Lance” and “nervous” in the same sentence.”

“It’s Prye…” The empleon said as he turned around.

“He’s the guildmaster from the northern guild right?” Ashe asked.

“Yeah… And I’m not gonna lie… He kinda scares me…”

“He also doesn't like Lance.” Said Lilac.

“Yeech… Well good luck with that, I gotta go.” Ashe said, quickly walking off.

“Come on… it’ll be fine.” Lilac said in a reassuring voice. “Maybe he’s lightened up a bit since last time.”

“Honestly, I doubt it… Said Lance. “There’s just something about that soul piercing scowl of his that makes him so difficult to be around…” He said as he felt a chilling sensation run down his back.

“So how many other guilds are there?” Jonah asked as he and team mire were eating in the dining hall.

“Including this one there are four in the whole continent.” Dusty replied. “The Cascade Guild mostly manages the southern region. Then there’s the Timberglade Guild in the west-”

“Well if you ask me, the guild over in Timberglade isn’t too different from here. Really there’s just more trees…” Ashe said as she made her way to their table. “So, you ready to go?”

Jonah nodded. “I’ll see you guys later.” He said getting up, before leaving with Ashe.

Riptide came up to the table with a plate of berries and other breakfast foods in his hands. “Where’d Jonah go?”

“He left with the blaziken.” Replied Ivy. “And isn’t that like the third plate you’ve gotten?”

“Here we go…” Dusty said to himself.

“Stop trying to change me. Besides, I’ve been feeling a bit weird ever since last night.”

“Whatever…” Ivy said, rolling her eyes. “So what kind of mission are you guys up for today?”

“Let’s just do something easy today…” Dusty said. “I’m pretty sure we could all use it after last night…”

“So how about this one?” Riptide said pointing at the job board.

_Help me find my friend!_   
_My friend went into Seaside Cavern by himself and hasn't come back. I’ll even come with you, I just need someone to help me look for him._

“A-A cave…” Dusty said, his voice sounding slightly shaky.

“If you don’t want to do it, we can choose another job…” Said Riptide.

The cubone shook his head. “N-No…” Dusty said before pausing and taking a deep breath. “There’s a pokemon stuck down there, and there probably just as scared as I’d be in that position… And besides… This is something I should get used to if I’m gonna be an explorer… Right…?”

“Well we’ll be with you the whole time.” Riptide said, smiling and vigorously scratching his arm.

Dusty nodded before giving the croconaw a weird look. “Are you doing alright…?”

“Yeah… I’m fine… It’s just my scales are really itching me…” He said as he continued to scratch.

The three soon met up with an emolga who looked like they were on the verge of tears.

“OH ARCEUS! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU FOR DOING THIS!” She said hugging Dusty.

“O-Oh, it’s no-”

“Lets go! We have no time to lose!” The emolga said as they jumped and glided down the hall, and out of the guild. The three pokemon looked at each other before running after her.

“So what exactly do I do with this…?” Jonah said, holding up a light blue disk in front of his face.

“Well do what you’re doing right now, and concentrate.” Ashe said. “Try and clear your mind, and if this goes right you should know what to do.”

Jonah closed his eyes and did as the blaziken said. The color from the TM was soon drained as a new feeling entered the buizel’s head. He opened his eyes and set the TM down before holding out a paw.

“Alright now focus on trying to use the move…” Ashe said, taking a fighting stance.

Jonah continued to focus on his paw as he felt it become colder. He watched with fascination and amazement as frost started to form around it.

“Hey! Heads up!” Ashe said as she rushed towards Jonah.

The buizel looked up, seeing Ashe about to kick him. Jonah immediately used aqua jet, rocketing backwards and landing on his back.

“Well look at that, ya finally used a move to dodge!” Ashe exclaimed. “Was kind of hoping you’d use your new move. But hey, it’s progress. So, what do ya say we make this more interesting…?”

“Come on Riptide, let's go!” Ivy said as she and Dusty ran down the beach after the gliding emolga.

“I'm coming!” Riptide yelled back. “Dammit, why is this happening now?!” The croconaw thought as he started scratching all over his body.

As they approached the cave, Dusty stared into the cavern’s mouth and began to visibly shake, clutching tightly onto his bone club. “C-Come on Dusty… Y-You can go into another cave…” He thought.

Dusty then took a deep breath, and straightened his posture. “A-Alright guys, let’s go.”

**Seaside Cavern: Floor B1**

Dusty used flamethrower on the end of his bone club, providing a light source within the dim, damp cave.

Ivy began to scan their surroundings. “Okay… No angry wilds trying to attack, no one trying to jump us… So far so good.”

“Well don't jinx it…” Riptide said, nudging the treecko.

“Q-Quit messing around you guys…” Dusty said as he began to take a few steps forwards.

“Keep an eye out for a cyndaquil.” Said the emolga. “I really hope he’s okay… I told him going in here by himself was a bad idea!”

**Seaside Cavern: Floor B5**

As they continued to navigate the cave, Dusty couldn’t help but nervously check the ground around him. He didn’t want any surprises jumping out of the ground like the last time he entered a cave.

“Still nothing… How many floors did this place have again?” Said Riptide.

“I think ten.” The emolga said.

“Ten floors... Five, you were able to do five… you can-” Dusty’s thoughts were interrupted as a strange feeling came over him.

The next thing he noticed was that the voices of his friends were gone. The cubone’s eyes widened as the sudden realization came over him. He was alone. Completely alone…

“Where’d Dusty go?!” Riptide exclaimed as he frantically looked around the dimly lit cave.

“Ah, shit…” Ivy said as she got close to the ground. “Looks like he stepped on a warp trap… Dammit, He could be anywhere on this whole floor.”

A loud rumbling sound echoed through the cave. “Rip… Please, for the love of Arceus tell me that was you…” The croconaw shook his head. The three pokemon began looking around them, trying to find the source of the sound.

A powerful blast of water shot through the darkness, almost hitting the emolga. A poliwrath slowly stepped out into their field of vision.

“You’ve got to be kidding me…”

“So why exactly are we at the beach?” Jonah asked.

“Well, one of the things you’ll have to do during the guild test is an obstacle course.”

Jonah looked around the expanse of sand. “Obstacles…?” Jonah asked, raising a brow.

“Your speed. We’re working on your speed.”

“Oh…”

“How the course works, is that you have to make it though as fast as you can, by any means you can.”

Jonah shot Ashe with a confused look. “So you’re training me to complete an obstacle course, without anything resembling an obstacle course?”

Ashe smiled and rolled his eyes. “You're missing the point. You don’t need to know what to do, you just need to be fast. Which is why you're gonna try and tag me. If you can do that, you should be ready for the agility and combat tests.”

Jonah looked down at his short legs. “Tag you?”

“Just once. By any means necessary.” Ashe replied. Jonah smirked as he became encapsulated in water, rocketing towards the blaziken.

Ashe immediately stepped and leaned to the side, dodging the attack. She glanced back at the buizel before running off in the opposite direction.

As Dusty slowly walked through the damp cave, he held out his still lit bone club in front of him with both hands. “O-Okay Dusty… T-They’ll find you… Y-You’ll find a way out of…” Dusty paused as his breathing hastened, he started thinking about the first time he entered a dungeon on his own.

Dusty didn’t really have anyone in his life before he met Riptide and his parents. But what he did have was drawing, and his admiration for exploration teams. And would frequently look for places and things to sketch.

Brave wasn’t really a word Dusty would have used to describe himself, but this time was going to be different. He had heard about a place at the end of a dungeon housing beautiful crystals, and other rock formations. Finally deciding to take a look for himself.

“Alright Dusty… You can do this…” He said looking into the cave….

The cubone doesn't really try to remember exactly what happened in there. But the thing that seems to stick, is the feeling of the stony walls and darkness starting to close in on him…

Dusty shook his head, trying to snap himself out of it. “C-Come on Dusty… Just… Calm down…” He thought, starting to slow his breathing.

“Is… someone there…?” A voice slowly called out.

“Y-Yeah… I-I’m with the Cascade Guild…” Dusty said back.

“You are?” The voice said back.

Dusty slowly walked closer to the source of the voice, and found a cyndaquil laying on the ground. “You’re that emolga’s friend right?” The cyndaquil nodded.

The two soon headed off in search of the others, Dusty was nervously scanning the area as the cyndaquil followed. He gave Dusty a bit of a concerned look. “Hey uh… Are you okay…?”

“Honestly… my heart feels like it’s gonna explode… I’m not really great with caves…” Dusty said before sighing. “That probably sounds dumb doesn't it…”

“Well… I mean, we all have things that scare us… But you still came down here right?” The cyndaquil said, smiling.

“Damn… That guy was surprisingly hard to take down.” Riptide said, looking down at the fallen poliwrath.

“Well he would have been easier to take out if you hadn’t spent half the battle scratching yourself!”

“Are they always like this…?” The emolga thought. “Hey! My friend and your teammate are still missing! Remember?!”

The two looked at each other, and back at the emolga. “Yeah, let’s not waste any more time.” Said Ivy before she glanced back at Riptide.

“But when we get back, you need to see Lilac about this.” She said, pointing at the croconaw.

As Dusty and the cyndaquil continued to navigate through the cave, the cubone felt a sense of dread hanging over him. “Get behind me…” He said to the cyndaquil. “W-Who’s there…?”

“ _So you sensed our presence… How interesting…_ ”

Dusty took a shaky battle stance, holding his lit bone club out in front of him. He soon watched as three armaldo walked out of the shadows.

“Get back!” Dusty shouted. The armaldo ignored him, and continued to come closer. Dusty’s heart and breathing began to speed up, as he glanced from the trio of armaldo, to the cyndaquil behind him, and back again.

For a split second, Dusty saw the machoke and excadrill from last year. He then took a step forward, and stood up straight before taking a deep breath.

“I SAID! GET _BAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKK!!!!_ ” The cubone yelled as his scream turned into an ear splitting shriek.

Two of the armaldo cringed and ran off, not wanting to deal with the loud screeching. Their leader however, stood his ground and took a swipe at the cubone. Dusty blocked the armaldo’s claw with his bone club, burning his adversary.

The armaldo was soon shot in the head with a stray jet of water and a green orb. Dusty took advantage of the distraction and came at the armaldo. Swinging his club upwards as hard as he could, and hitting them in the chin. They then toppled over backwards as Riptide, Ivy, and the emolga rushed over to them.

“Blaze!” The emolga yelled as she glided over to the cyndaquil, almost tackling them.

“Heh… It’s nice to see you too…”

“I think it’s time we get out of here…” Ivy said, raising her guild badge. A bright light shined from the badge and enveloped the five pokemon.

Once outside the cave, the five began their trip back to the guild. “Thank you so much for finding Blaze.” The emolga said, still holding onto the cyndaquil.

“Yeah, thanks for getting me outta there.”

“O-Oh, it’s no problem…” Dusty said, putting a hand to his chest.

“You did pretty good back there.” Riptide said, scratching his arm.

“Yeah… I guess I did…” Dusty said in between breaths. “I feel lightheaded…”

Jonah had once again used aqua jet to try and catch up with Ashe. “How the fuck is she so fast?” He thought. “Wait… That’s it!”

Ashe soon stopped and stepped to the side as the buizel sped towards her. The water surrounding Jonah soon dissipated before he then fired a jet of water from his mouth aimed at the blaziken’s feet.

“I hope this works…” He thought.

As Ashe staggered backwards, Jonah stopped and used ice punch while twisting his body in an effort to touch the remaining water. He does so, and just as Jonah had hoped, it froze. Catching Ashe’s foot in the process.

However, the buizel soon found himself falling on his back. He tried to get up as fast as he could, but Ashe smashed the ice with her other foot.

Jonah simply stood there, panting before collapsing face first onto the sand.

“I’ll give it to you, that was pretty clever.” Ashe said, walking towards the buizel.

Jonah just groaned as he rolled over onto his back. He saw the blaziken standing over him and smirked. The buizel then reached up, touching Ashe’s leg.

“Got’cha…”

Ashe smiled and sighed. “Well I did say if you tagged me… But really, you’re getting a lot better.” She said, helping Jonah up.

They soon saw Team Mire approaching, along with two other pokemon.

“Hey guys.” Jonah said, waving. “So… How are things…?”

Dusty, Ivy, and Jonah were in their room talking, waiting for Riptide to come back from seeing Lilac.

“So I take it the job didn’t go as planned?” Jonah asked Ivy while gesturing towards Dusty, who was face down in his bed.

“Yeah… He’s not great with caves... And all I can say to you is watch out for warp traps.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Riptide soon entered the room, and walked straight to his bed.

“Well, what did she say?” Asked Ivy.

“Well. Apparently Lilac says this stuff sometimes this happens after evolution, and should go away soon.”

“Well I mean if that’s it, then why do you have that look of mild humiliation?”

“Because after telling me that, she went into the whole “your body’s changing” speech… And-”

“Well I don’t wanna hear about it!” Ivy yelled.

“Neither did I…”

“Wait…” Jonah said, holding up a paw. “How old are you guys?!”


	12. Fracture

_“The three of them are old enough to be in high school, and they’re doing this…?!”_ Jonah thought as he made his way downstairs. _“Guess we’ll just add that to the list of things that are different here… Annnd they’re helping me study for the guild test…”_ His face reddened slightly at the thought of that. _“Remember Jonah, they’re from here, you’re not…”_

The buizel entered the archives and was searching for a book on the various items explorers used in dungeons. Even though his training with Ashe was going well, his knowledge of this world’s items was… limited. The buizel looked up at the numerous bookshelves lining the room and sighed. _“Please don’t be on the top shelves…”_

As Jonah made weaved through the aisles of the archives, he saw Cobalt sitting at a table, a mountain of books laid out on the table in front of him. “Are you looking for something?” The lucario said, not looking away from his book.

“Yeah… just looking for something on items…”

“Turn around.” Said Cobalt, still looking in his book.

The buizel did so, and pulled what he needed off the shelf. “Thanks.”

“Wait.” Cobalt said, putting his book down. “I’d like to speak with you.”

“Uhh, sure…” Jonah said, kind of confused.

“So… Now that you’ve been here for a few days, I’d like to ask you a few questions.” Cobalt said, as Jonah came over to the table.

“Let me guess, the specifics on how I got here.” Jonah said as Cobalt nodded. “Well… Honestly, it’s kind of a long story…”

“Just tell me whatever you think is important.” The lucario calmly said.

Jonah took a deep breath and sighed. “Well… back in my world, my job was kind of like what you guys do… Minus the whole fighting criminals, and rescuing others thing.”

“So a treasure hunter…?” Cobalt curiously replied.

“Treasure hunter, explorer, researcher, whatever you want to call it. So… My team and I were on an expedition to research “extra-dimensional energy…” Jonah said waving his paws outwards. “Well that’s what they called it at least…”

“You see this?” The buizel asked, pointing at the tinted goggles on his head. “I made them to let me see the energy we were researching. Anyways, our research eventually led us to these ruins… There was a legend that people in ancient times used this place to travel between worl-” Jonah paused as Cobalt held out a paw as he looked to the side.

“Is something wrong…?”

 _“This aura… It feels… familiar… but distorted…”_ Cobalt thought as he slowly got up from the table. But as soon as he did, the aura he had sensed disappeared.

“Hey, are you alright?” Jonah asked again.

“Oh… um, yes. I’m fine.” Cobalt said with a half smile. “Is your… team, here by any chance?”

Jonah shook his head. “Hell if I know… I was the only one in the ruin’s depths before I woke up here…”

“Jonah sure is taking a long time…” Riptide groaned. “I know we said we’d help him memorize dungeon items but-”

The croconaw was interrupted as Ivy forced an apple into his chest. “Here. Eat that, and stop complaining.”

The door soon opened as Jonah walked in with a book in his arms. “Sorry I took so long. Cobalt was in the archives and wanted to talk to me about stuff… So… how about we get started?” He said, holding up the book. “Wait, where’s Dusty?”

The aforementioned cubone soon entered the room with a cup in his hands. “Is that chesto coffee?” Riptide asked, as he began to smell the air. “I thought you didn’t drink that stuff?”

“Well today took a bit out of me…” Dusty said in a dry, but tired tone.

Over the next few hours, they went over the various types of seeds, orbs, wands, and other dungeon related items. “Okay, so the persim band does what?” Dusty asked Jonah.

“Prevents confusion.” The buizel answered.

“What about the tight belt?”

“Negates hunger.”

“ _Maybe we should get Rip one of those…_ ” Ivy said under her breath.

“I will sit on you.” The croconaw shot back.

“Annnd I think that ‘s enough of that for now.” Dusty said, closing the book about items.

The door soon burst open as Ashe stood in their doorway. “Oh my god Ashe! ” Jonah yelled, grabbing his chest. “Don’t do that!”

“Yeah… What he said…” Dusty said, getting up. As he had fallen out of his bed from Ashe’s sudden intrusion.

“Sorry ‘bout that… I just came here to tell you that I probably won’t be able to train with you tomorrow on account of what I'm doing here.” She said putting a talon to her head. “Wait… You three can do it.” She said pointing at Dusty.

“Are you sure?” Dusty asked.

“Well as soon to be acting temporary assistant guildmaster, I’m telling you to.” Ashe said enthusiastically.

The three pokemon looked at eachother, and back at Ashe. “So how do we go about this..?” Ivy asked.

“Well… Today’s the day…” Lance said to himself as he gathered his stuff together. _“What are you so worried about…? Pyre’s probably mellowed out since last time… I mean, they did make him take anger management…”_ The empoleon's thoughts were soon interrupted by a knock at the door. “It’s open!” His office door soon opened as King walked inside.

“Here to see me off?”

“Well, that’s the first reason…” King said, looking off to the side.

Lance grinned and shook his head. “We. Will talk about you and Dusk becoming a team when I get back.” He said, putting on his explorer bag.

“Now try not to do anything that will warrant a write to your mom. Because if I know my sister, she’ll kill us both.” Lance said looking off into the distance.

“Lance. You know how long it takes to get to Marble City. We need to go soon, or we’ll be late.” Cobalt said, walking up to the two.

“Right.” The empoleon said walking towards the door. “I’ll see you around King.” He said, ruffling the feathers on King’s head as he walked out.

Jonah and Team Mire made their way over to Ashe’s dojo. As they opened the tent they looked around at the scattered exercise equipment that covered the floor.

“So… do we just start working out or… what?” Riptide asked, looking around.

“Well last time, Ashe was working on my speed. So-” Jonah was soon interrupted by Ivy lunging towards him at a near blinding speed.

“You’re starting to act just like her now…” He said, laying on the ground.

They soon made their way to the battlefield behind the tent, where Ivy and Jonah went to stand on opposite sides. The two pokemon each took a battle stance while Dusty and Riptide watched from the side.

Ivy sped towards Jonah with quick attack, who in turn jumped and dodged using aqua jet. While in the air he turned and flew towards Ivy. The treecko stood her ground as she began to form a green orb in her hands. She fired off an energy ball, landing a direct hit on Jonah. As he fell to the ground, Ivy rushed over with quick attack again. However, the treecko was soon hit with ice punch as Jonah twisted his body around.

“Rip, Dusty! Attack now!” Ivy yelled. Riptide jumped onto the field, charging towards Jonah with waterfall.

“What the fu-” Jonah said as he was knocked over by the croconaw. As he got up, he saw Dusty’s bone club flying right at him. It flew right past him, narrowly missing his face.

“Dungeons aren’t controlled environments, and not every fight will be one on one.” Said Ivy. “And most dungeon pokemon aren’t really all right in the head ethier.”

Jonah sighed. _“We’re going to a dungeon now aren't we…?”_

“So where exactly are we going?” Jonah asked, as the four left Cascade City.

“Serene Woods, it’s where we found you.” Ivy said. “It’s not really a difficult dungeon, _so long as we avoid the whirlipede…_ ”

“Wait, are you talking about those bugs that almost killed me… Great…”

As Lance and Cobalt left Cascade City, the empoleon turned around and sighed.

“Is something wrong?” Cobalt asked.

“It’s King… I… Do you think I should let him and Dusk form a team…?”

Cobalt flinched slightly after hearing Lance’s question. “Are you sure those two have the right attitudes for something like that?”

The empoleon puts a flipper behind his head, laughing nervously. “Well, I’d like to think the experience could maybe teach him something…”

As the two pokemon continued to walk down the dirt path, they soon came across a decidueye with a dark green scarf tied around his leg.

“Well if it isn’t Vernal…” Lance said, walking towards the owl.

The decidueye turned towards Lance and Cobalt and waved. “It’s been a while hasn't it?”

Vernal flew towards the two pokemon, and held out his wing as he landed. “How have you two been?”

“We’ve been doing well.” Cobalt said, shaking the decidueye’s wing.

“And how have things been on your end?” Lance asked.

“Let’s just say things have been… eventful…” Vernal said looking off the side.

“Good eventful, or bad eventful?”

“Pyre’s gonna be pissed when he hears about it eventful… Say, what do you say we head off together? The decidueye asked. “It’s been kind of lonely coming all this way from Timberglade.”

“Sure, why not?” Lance said, smiling.

**Serene Woods: Floor 1**

“So what we’re looking for are stairs to get to the next floor of the dungeon.” Dusty said, scanning their surroundings.

“Yeah, I remember that from the other place we went to. But what about the whole…” Jonah said as he made jabbing motions with his paws. But soon paused as he heard hissing from some nearby bushes. “Not again…”

“ _Well, looks like you got your wish…_ ” Ivy said under her breath. A pair of venipede crept out of the bush, getting ready to attack.

“Well, let’s see what you've learned.” Ivy said, looking at the buizel.

Jonah readied himself, before using water gun on one of the venipede, while Dusty used flamethrower on the other. The venipede Jonah attacked soon lunged at him, retaliating with poison sting.

Jonah jumped out of the way and began to reach into his bag, feeling around for anything that could be of use.

 _“Shit, shit, shit!”_ He thought as he saw the venipede coming closer. _“Fuck it.”_ Jonah thought before slamming down on the bug with ice punch, knocking it out.

“Well that could’ve gone better…”

“Do you mind if I see the inside of your bag…?” Dusty asked.

“Sure.” Jonah said, as he handed his bag over to the cubone.

“You just tossed everything in here with your human stuff.”

“I… prefer to call it organized chaos…”

Dusty just looked up at the buizel, giving him “the look”. “Your items won’t be much use if you can’t find them.”

**Serene Woods: Floor 3**

“So this is where you found me…” Jonah said looking around. While there wasn’t really anything differentiating this floor from the other. Something about it felt… familiar…

“I think I see the stairs over there.” Riptide said pointing.

“Well that was fast…” Said Jonah.

“Well sometimes the stairs are just easier to find. Dungeons are weird like that.” The croconaw said. “Kinda makes you think how they got like this…”

As the three made their way over towards the stairs, a strong wind started to pick up. Jonah froze in place as a strange feeling came over him. Compelled to lower his tinted goggles, the buizel did so. And was both amazed and terrified at what he saw.

“Hey is something wrong?” Riptide said, walking towards the buizel.

“We should probably run…”

“What do you mean _run…_?” Ivy asked.

A massive pulse of energy knocked the four pokemon back, sending them flying into some nearby bushes. “What the hell was that?!” Ivy yelled.

“Whatever it is we should probably go.” Dusty said reaching for his guild badge. The cubone raised his badge as it began to glow… But the light soon faded as nothing happened.

“What…?” Dusty tried again, and was met with the same result.

“Let me try.” Ivy said, raising her badge. “What the hell…? Why aren’t our badges working?!”

“I think that might have something to do with it…” Jonah said pointing off to the distance.

“What? I don’t see anything.” Said Ivy. Jonah removed his goggles, handing them over to the treecko. Ivy stared at them for a bit before holding them up to her eyes. “Oh shit…”

“U-Uh… g-guys…” Dusty said, in a shaky voice. “D-Do you f-feel that…?” He asked as the ground began to shake. The four pokemon soon felt a sudden jolt, as if everything around them had been raised up.

“Everyone hold on to something!” Ivy yelled, jumping into a nearby tree. Riptide grabbed Dusty and Jonah before running to the same tree Ivy clung onto.

As another wave of energy pulsed through the dungeon, the sky noticeably got darker. Turning a menacing shade of violet. Stones and other bits of earth started to float above the ground, while larger pieces began to disappear entirely.

“W-What’s going on…?” Dusty said clinging tightly to Riptide.

“Yeah, this is actually starting to scare me…” Said Ivy, holding onto the tree even more than before.

“Whatever it is, I won’t let anything happen to you guys.” Riptide said, trying to hide the fear in his voice.

“Hey… What the hell happened to the ground…?!” Exclaimed Ivy as she looked over her shoulder. The others looked around and noticed that the forest they were once in was gone, and in its place was an endless void.

“What the hell…?” Ivy said to herself. “Guys get down!”

“Wha-” Dusty said, still holding on to Riptide.

“Seriously, shut up and get down!” The treecko yelled as she jumped off the tree. Just as the others did so, another piece of floating land collided with and obliterated the tree behind them.

“T-Thanks Ivy…” Dusty said as his breathing hastened. “That could have been really…” The cubone then paused as the color drained from his barely visible face. He couldn’t feel Riptide anymore… The cubone shot up, looking around for any sign of his friend. Only to find Jonah behind him getting up. “Where’s Riptide and Ivy?!” He frantically said, rushing over to the buizel.

“Rip! Take my hand!” Ivy yelled as she hung onto one many levitating land masses. The treecko watched as Riptide floated through the void like the many isles that surrounded them. The croconaw then used waterfall in an effort to propel himself closer to his teammate.

“Got'cha.” Ivy said as she grabbed him, and flung him onto the ground before pulling herself up. “Did you see the others while you were out there?”

The croconaw nodded before walking towards the ledge. “They’re down there.” He said pointing at another floating piece of land.

“Dammit.” Ivy said to herself as she looked over the edge.

“We gotta get back down there…” Riptide said as a worried expression crept over his face.

“D-Do you see them anywhere?!”

“I think so… Wait no, I see them up there. Only question is how we can get to them…” Jonah said, continuing to look around the area. “Hmm…” The buizel picked up a small stone, handing it to Dusty. “I want to see how far you can hit this.”

“W-What…?”

“If I’m right, we might be able to reach Ivy and Riptide.”

Dusty hesitated before nodding and taking the stone. He then tossed it in the air, and hitting it with his bone club. The two pokemon watched as the stone seemed to slow down and float upwards. _“I Knew it…_ Okay, I think I could get us up there if I use aqua jet and you hold on to me.”

“I-I’m a ground type, remember… You’ll just end up hurting me…”

“Right… Wait, I have some rope in my bag. I’ll tie it to my leg, and you can hold on from there.”

“Okay… If you’re sure about this…” Dusty said, still unsure about Jonah’s plan.

Ivy and Riptide were pacing around the floating isle, searching for a way off. “Hey Ivy! Check this out!”

“What’cha find?” She asked, running over to the croconaw. The two were met with what appeared to be a bridge made up of levitating fragments of stone.

“Where do you think it goes…?” Riptide asked. “You… think we should-”

“Riptide! Ivy!” the two turned around to see Dusty running towards them, with Jonah almost directly behind him.

“How did you get-”

“We can explain later. Let’s just find a way out of here.” Jonah hastily said.

“Oh, um… here. I Think this is yours.” Said Ivy smiling, as she pulled Jonah’s goggles out of her bag.

“Thanks.”

“You think maybe those things can get us out of this mess?” The treecko asked as Jonah put the goggles back on his head, and over his eyes.

The buizel stood and stared with his mouth agape. _“Holy fuck… It’s just like in the ruins… I can feel it all around me too… Wait… what’s that?”_ The longer he stared at the “bridge”, he noticed the energy flowing near it was going in that direction.

“Well? Do you see anything?” Ivy asked.

“I… I think we should go this way…”

“You sure…?” Riptide asked. “Cause I’m not exactly light on my feet…”

“Do you have any better ideas? Besides I think you might be okay if you fall off. The gravity seems to be weaker in these more open areas.”

Riptide slowly looked down over the edge. “Whatever you say…”

After the four carefully made their way across the bridge of floating stones. Team Mire continued to follow Jonah throughout the fractured dungeon. “Alright it’s leading this way.” Jonah said.

“Wait a second…” Dusty said, as he stopped walking. “Do you think the dungeon pokemon are still here…?”

“Who knows…” Said Riptide.

“Let’s just focus on getting out of here.” Said Ivy, with a hint of frustration present in her voice.

“Are those… the stairs…” Jonah asked as the four soon came across a tree that was warped into a massive spiral staircase. “The energy seems to be leading here.” Jonah said, looking up at the stairs. “So… Should we go up…? The members of team mire looked at each other for a while before nodding and looking back at Jonah. “Alright then…”

As the four made their way up, the air began to grow much thinner. “How… Much…. Longer…?” Riptide asked, panting heavily. “Oh Arceus, I’m gonna throw up…”

“Yeah… I don't feel so great either…” Dusty said as he stopped climbing.

“I… Don’t think… it’s too much… further…” Jonah said as he looked up.

Upon reaching the top, the group of pokemon found themselves on another floating land mass. The first thing they noticed was that the air had returned back to normal. Towards the end of the island however, there was a cloaked figure standing in front of a glowing rift in the air. The four watched as the mysterious figure raised a staff with blue and purple crystals tied to the end.

“What are they doing…?” Ivy asked, catching her breath. “You… think that they’re the one causing this…?”

“Do not interfere if you wish to leave this place. I require concentration…” They said in a femminine, but slightly annoyed voice.

“So… Who are you…?” Riptide asked, practically ignoring the individual’s last statement.

They sighed and let their staff float towards the rift. The gems tied to its end began to glow, before blinding light enveloped the dungeon.

“Good… You're all safe… It seems there’s hope if you managed to navigate it yourselves. Until we meet again…”

…. …. ….

Jonah slowly sat up, rubbing his head before looking around him. Riptide, Ivy, and Dusty all did the same. The four were no longer inside the dungeon, but rather sitting at the forest’s entrance.

Dusty slowly stood up and backed away from the dungeon as quickly as he could. Jonah could immediately tell that the poor cubone was terrified. He looked at the dungeon behind him and sighed.

_“Guess that wasn’t some fucked up dream after all…”_

“Hey, um… What do you guys say we head back…?” Riptide said, sounding kind of uneasy.

“Yeah… let’s do that…” Ivy said rubbing her arm.

“That’s… probably for the best…” Jonah said, still looking into the woods.

“So… Are we gonna talk about what happened back there…?” Ivy asked. The four had recently returned to the guild, and were sitting in the dining hall.

“I think I’d rather just forget about it…” Dusty said with his head down.

“I don’t blame you, that was some scary shit…” Riptide said, glancing down at the table, but quickly changed his tone after catching Dusty sink downwards. “But it’s over now…” He said smiling

“Hey guys!”

The four looked up and saw Sol and Luna walking towards their table. “The hell happened to you?” Luna asked.

“Let’s just say it’s been kind of a rough day…” Ivy tiredly replied. “Besides, you probably wouldn’t believe it if we told you…”

“Well damn, now I have to hear.” Luna said as she and Sol sat down.

“Aughh!” Ashe groaned as she continued to sift through the pile of papers on Cobalt’s desk. “How does he not… He so owes me for this…”

“Is something wrong?” Lilac asked, sticking her head though the crack in the doorway.

“Ah, it’s nothing, I’m just kinda bored…”

“Kinda?” The goodra said, raising a brow.

“Right, you heard that…” The blaziken said, gritting her beak. “How does Blue do this all day…?”

“Well, Cobalt won’t let just anyone do what he does around here. So there must be a reason why he wanted you to do this.” Lilac said, smiling.

“Yeah I guess so… So what do you think those two are up to?” Ashe asked.

“Knowing the boys, we can only guess. They don’t really go out together like this all that often.”

“So I heard you guys took on some new teams recently.” Vernal said as he, Lance and Cobalt continued their venture to Marble City.

“They’re quite the talented batch this year.” Lance replied.

“Good to hear…” There was a long and awkward silence as they continued to walk down the dirt road.

“So… None of us have anything to talk about…?” Lance said, trying to break the silence.

“Well it’s starting to get late anyways, we should probably set up shop and stay here until tomorrow.” Said Vernal.

“And here I thought you liked being out late.” Lance jokingly said.

“Well this time’s different.” The decidueye said, pretending to be insulted.

Cobalt gave a half smile and rolled his eyes. “Come on you two, this stuff won’t set up by itself. The lucario said, taking off his bag. As he did so, Cobalt froze as felt the same distorted aura he had felt in the archives.

“You alright?” Lance asked. “Cobalt…?”

“Yes?”

“Are you alright?”

The lucario turned and looked off into the distance. “Yes… I’m alright.”


	13. Guilds and Tests Part 1

“Something like this… Just to give you a better idea.” Dusty said as he finished sketching the unexplained phenomenon from his team’s trip to Serene Woods. It was a bit sloppier than what he’d normally draw, but the cubone was still a bit shaken up from the day’s events. And after speaking with Sol and Luna about it, they all headed up to team mire’s room.

“Hmm… Interesting…” Sol said, looking at the picture before he skimmed through the book he lent to Jonah.

“Did you find anything yet?” Ivy asked the heliolisk.

Sol shook his head as he kept searching. _“Dang it, where was that page again…”_

The treecko rolled her eyes before glancing over at Jonah, who was sitting in his bed and staring at his goggles as he held them in his paws. He soon set them down and reached for his bag, taking out his journal.

_Well… today something… interesting happened… Team Mire took me out on a trip though a “mystery dungeon” called Serene Woods. Apparently it’s where they found me when I first got here. But while we were part way through, the dungeon seemed to break apart._

_And though it’s technically been my third time inside a dungeon, I don’t think they’re supposed to do that… By the way, when I say break apart, I mean there were remnants of the place floating throughout some kind of void. And there had been areas possessing lower amounts of gravity then others. Had there not been, I think someone could have died…_

Jonah then stopped writing and looked down at the tinted goggles sitting beside him. _“I wonder if there’s anywhere to get a drink around here…?”_ He thought, before sighing and getting back to his journal. “ _Right, where was I…_?”

_Somehow… I was able to lead us to the end, where there was this… rift, if I can call it that… There was also someone there. We’re not sure who they were, or what they were doing… But looking back on it… Maybe, they were trying to fix what happened. I wonder if me being here has something to do with it… I hope not._

“You um… you doing okay…?” Ivy asked.

“ _What happened back there…_ Do you think I could have caused that…?” Jonah quietly said looking up at the treecko.

“What are you talking about?”

“Look, I felt like I had this… connection with, _whatever that was…_ the same as one I kept feeling a while back…”

“Umm… Do you think we should tell Lilac about this…?” Dusty asked.

“Yeah I guess… But what if it was all just a one time thing?” Riptide replied.

“Well we should still say _something_.” Said Ivy. “One time thing or not, that was some freaky shit.”

“I _think_ I found something that _could_ help.” Said Sol in an unsure tone as he looked up from the book. The other five pokemon began to gather around the heliolisk as he prepared to read aloud. “Travels of Distortion…” The story the heliolisk began to tell was of a pokemon journeying through the distortion realm searching for their lost love.

“Okay that was a cool story and all, but how is that supposed to help?” Ivy asked, crossing her arms.

“Hey, I’m just trying to go off what you guys described.” Sol replied, giving a slight scowl.

“Okey, so while you all try to figure… all of this out. I’m gonna go back to our room and work on my next piece.” Luna said, getting up and heading towards the door.

“D-Do you mind if I come to…?” Dusty asked the umbreon. “I… don’t really want to think about this all right now…” Luna turned back and nodded before heading out.

“I-I’ll see you guys later alright…” Dusty said, as he did the same.

“I think I’m gonna go too.” Jonah said, getting off his bed. As the buizel soon left, Ivy, Riptide, and Sol sat there staring at the door.

“So… now what?” Riptide asked.

“Are you doing okay…? _You seemed a bit…_ ” Luna said before she reached for a paintbrush with her mouth.

“It’s just that… yesterday I already got separated from them on a job… And today it happened again during, whatever _**that**_ was…” Dusty said, looking down.

“Uh huh…” Luna mumbled.

A few long minutes passed as Dusty began to sketch while Luna continued to paint. Dusty soon stopped and looked up at the umbreon. “Can I ask you something…?”

“Sure.” Luna responded in a somewhat muffled tone. There was a bit of a long awkward pause as Dusty hesitated.

“How… How do you see me…?”

Luna stopped for a few seconds before setting down her brush. “If this is going where I think it’s going, I’m probably not the one you should be asking that to.”

Hearing this, Dusty slowly sank down, and went back to his drawing. “ _Maybe…_ ”

After a few more minutes past there was a knock at the door. “It’s open!” Luna said after setting down her brush. It opened as Riptide, Ivy, and Sol stood in the doorway.

“Hey…” Said Ivy. “So we were gonna go see Lilac… and-”

“Oh, um… Yeah. Yeah I’m coming.” Dusty said, hastily getting up and gathering his things.

Jonah walked through the streets of Cascade, thinking about the day as he looked around at the vivid sunset casting its orange light over the city. Making his way down to the main square, the buizel soon caught the attention of a certain blaziken talking with a charizard. “He-Hey! Jonah! Over here!” Ashe said, waving him over.

“Aren’t you supposed to be at the guild?” Jonah asked, tilting his head. Torch slowly glanced at the blaziken, giving her “the look”.

“I… was taking a break…” Ashe said, holding up a talon.

“You know, you could at least try to be a good influence for the kid.” Torch said in a slightly joking manner.

“ _Kid…_ I-I’m in my twenties…” Jonah said with an unamused look on his face. _“Do I really look like a kid…? So much for getting that drink…” Jonah thought looking over himself. “Then again I didn’t notice that team mire were teenagers…”_

“Oh… sorry about that…” Said Torch.

“Nah… It’s fine…” Jonah said waving his paws. “It’s just been an… _interesting_ _day…_ ”

“Well it better not have been too interesting, cause your guild test is tomorrow.” Said Ashe.

“Wait, tomorrow?!”

“Yeah… Due to… guild stuff… I’ll be monitoring your test tomorrow. But hey, I’m sure you’ll do fine.” Ashe said smiling.

“Yeah…” Jonah said, rubbing the back of his head. “Hey… do you ever feel like you’ve “done something” but you’re not quite sure what…?”

“Hmm, I can’t really say off the top of my head.”

“ _Well I remember **quite** a few times…_” Torch said under his breath.

“Hey, the kid asked me, not you.” Ashe said, turning towards the charizard.

“ _I think I’ll just head back to the guild now._ ” Jonah said, slightly annoyed as he started to walk off.

“Wait!” Ashe said, following the buizel.

Torch slowly shook his head. _“The hell am I gonna do with her…?”_

Lilac was standing behind Lance’s desk, and was rearranging various things throughout the office. The goodra kept this up for a while before hearing a knock at the door. Lilac stopped and walked towards the entrance of the room and opened it. “Oh, Sol and team mire.” The goorda said with a friendly smile.

“So Riptide, are still feelin-” Lilac talking as she saw the embarrassed croconaw gesturing with his hands for her to stop. Lilac giggled and shook her head. “So how can I help you all?”

The four pokemon looked at each other and then back at Lilac. “We… need to talk to you about something…” Ivy said, rubbing her arm.

“I… kind of think Jonah should be here for this…” Dusty said, whispering to the treecko.

“Fine, I’ll go look for him then. I just think it’s better that we deal with this now.” Ivy said before running off.

“Where is she going?” Lilac asked in a slightly concerned tone.

“She’s just getting Jonah… This, kind of concerns him too...” Dusty said.

 _“Dammit, where is he…?”_ Ivy thought as she darted through the guild’s stone halls, and back to her team’s room. “ _Okay, not here._ ” She said to herself. Eventually, upon reaching the main hall, she saw Jonah walking back inside.

“There you are!” She said, quickly walking up to him.

“Did I miss something…?” Jonah asked.

“Just come with me.” Ivy said, grabbing his paw and pulling him away.

“Oh… I… honestly don’t know what to tell you…” Lilac said. “I’m just glad that you're all okay…” She said with a concerned smile. “And I’ll be sure to inform Lance and Cobalt about this as soon as I can.”

“That’s not exactly everything…” Jonah said, looking down slightly. “I… think I might have had something to do with this…”

“Wait what?!”

“W-What do you mean…?” Riptide and Dusty asked.

“Look, you guys saw what happened back there. How I was able to lead us all though-”

“But that was because of those right?” Riptide said, pointing to the buizel’s goggles.

“It wasn’t… _just_ the goggles… It was like I had a… connection with that place.” Jonah said, as he started to pace back and forth and mutter to himself.

“Are… Are you okay Jonah…?” Dusty asked. The buizel then stopped pacing and looked up at Dusty.

“Sorry… I was just thinking…”

As the conversation continued, Sol grew more and more interested in team mire’s situation. He honestly didn’t think too much of the buizel when he first met him. But now after hearing that Jonah could possibly have a connection to another world, his interest peaked.

 _“Something’s definitely up with this guy, and I’m gonna find out what…”_ Sol thought as his frill slowly opened in excitement.

Later that night, as the three members of team mire were asleep Jonah laid awake in his bed. On one side of him was the book on dungeon items laying open, looking as if it were about to fall to the floor. As for Jonah, he was laying on his stomach and writing in his journal.

_So my guild test is tomorrow, and here I am awake writing this… The more I think about what happened today, the more I think I may have come across something big. Well, maybe not **as big** as finding an **entire other world** … But honestly I’m still not sure… I’ll probably sound like a broken record saying this, but if you told me that researching this energy would lead to me turning into a two tailed weasel, and applying to an “exploration guild”... Then… yeah..._

_But then there’s team mire… I think they’re still a bit rattled from what happened, especially Dusty. Hell I don’t blame them… I really hope they’re doing okay… But I need to relax. I have to pass this, because if I’m gonna be stuck here I may as well do something I’m used to… Which reminds me… I kind of wonder if that rift could’ve taken me back…_

Jonah closed his journal and looked to his side at the book, reaching for it. _“A last minute glance over never hurt anyone right…?”_

The next morning, the members of team mire roused from their beds, and got ready for the new day. As Ivy, Riptide, and Jonah made their way to the door, Dusty was hesitant. “You guys go on ahead…” Said Riptide, before he turned and walked towards the cubone.

“So… Do you wanna talk…?” Dusty remained silent as he stood there with his head down. “Hey if this is about yesterday-”

“ _It’s not… just about yesterday…_ ” Dusty quietly said. “Riptide… How… How do you see me…?”

“What’s that supposed to mean…?”

“You guys keep having to save me over and over. Like that job with Flare, or the cave rescue…”

“Well sometimes things happen on missions right? I mean I got taken out by that ursaring too, and you’re the one who dealt the final blow to that-”

“ **After** you and Ivy showed up!” Dusty said, raising his voice. “And even yesterday, Jonah’s the one who got us back together… _I just panicked…_ ”

“You’re… not saying you wanna quit… Are you…?” Riptide said in a somber tone.

“No! _No… It’s just…_ Sometimes it kind of feels like I’m just kind of tagging along behind you two… I… want to get stronger like you and Ivy.”

Riptide just stood there, staring down at the cubone. Before perking up, and giving a smile. “Then leave it to me!” The croconaw said, puffing his chest out.

“You’re gonna train me?” Dusty asked, raising a brow.

“Well Ivy and I did before right?” Riptide said. “Besides, Ashe seems kind of… _intense…_ ”

“Come on, let’s go meet up with the others alright.” Dusty nodded and followed the croconaw out of they're room. “Besides if you leave, who’s gonna keep things between me and Ivy stable.” Riptide jokingly said, earning a small chuckle from Dusty.

Riptide and Dusty soon met up with Ivy and Jonah in the guild’s dining hall. Where the buizel and treecko were speaking with Ashe.

“So, are you ready?” Asked Ashe.

“ _Yeah… Yeah, I’m ready._ ” Jonah said, with slight hesitation and sounding somewhat tired. _“Damn… Why am so I nervous about this…”_ He thought.

“Alright then. Meet me down by the beach soon.” Jonah nodded as the blaziken walked away.

“You’ll do fine. We’ll be there while you take the agility and battles tests.” Ivy said, slapping the buizel on the back.

“ _This is starting to feel like high school football tryouts all over again…_ ” Jonah said, mostly to himself.

“No idea what that is, but I’m assuming… You know what, I’ll shut up.” Ivy said as Jonah gave her a slight glare from the side.

“Great pep talk there.” Riptide said in a jokingly sarcastic tone as he sat down at their table with a plate of berries.

“Bleghhh!” Ivy groaned.

“Guys…” Dusty said.

“ _Yeah, we know…_ ” The two said back.

Jonah couldn’t help but chuckle at the events in front of him, as he reached for a chesto berry on the table. “Tired?” Ivy asked.

“A bit… I’m normally not like this…” Jonah said, before biting into the berry’s tough exterior. “So if I pass, they’ll probably stick me with you guys right?” The buizel said, chewing.

“Most likely, I mean we did find you.” Dusty replied.

“Well, let’s just hope this goes well.” Jonah said, shaking himself into a more awake state. “Wow, that hits fast…”

Lance, Cobalt, and Vernal began to gather their things and continued their trip to Marble City.

“Well…” Lance said, taking a deep breath as he looked up at the towering cliffside that stood before him. “It been a while hasn’t it? You all ready?” Lance said, smiling and turning around. Cobalt and Veral both nodded before the three headed into the dungeon.

**Riged Pass: Floor 1**

Well after the trio had entered the rocky dungeon, Cobalt noticed that Lance seemed a bit happier then normal. The empoleon appeared to be marching with his head held high and humming some kind of tune, much like he did when they went exploring together as kids.

“Well you're certainly in a good mood for someone who’s soon to be in the presence of Guildmaster Pyre.” Cobalt said with a slight grin.

Lance soon froze in place and turned towards the lucario. “ _Well I was…_ But really though, how can I not be. How often do we get to “go out” like this?”

“I guess you do have a point there.”

“Of course I do!” Lance cheerfully said as he continued to walk.

**Riged Pass: Floor 10**

“And you know how fast things get around in Timberglade. I’m pretty sure his team is embarrassed of him now.” Vernal said as he walked alongside Lance.

“Can’t say I blame them, I mean if my teammates almost mistook a cherubi for a berry I’d be embarrassed too.”

As they continued to talk, a stone formation shaped like a staircase soon came into view. But a loud rumbling soon echoed through the dungeon as the ground began to shake. The three braced themselves as a massive steelix shot up out of the ground in front of them. The giant snake roared as a volley of large rocks began to rain down.

Lance raised both of his flippers as a vortex of water began to emerge from them. The boulders from steelix’s attack were soon swept up in the whirlpool before it was tossed aside, annoying the steelix. Before he could go for another attack Vernal held up his wing, pulling back on the vine hanging from his hood. Vernal then fired an arrow that gave off a shadowy aura. As It landed right in front of the steelix, it found that he was unable to move. Cobalt used this opening to rush their immobilized adversary with close combat.

With the sleelix defeated the three made their way to the stairs, the wind heavily picking up as they did so. “Woah!” Vernal said as he was almost knocked out of the air. “Let’s try and get through here before the wind gets-” He said, landing. But before he could finish however, a pulse of energy knocked the three of them back.

“What the hell was that?!” Lance exclaimed as he slowly got back up.

“I don’t know…” Cobalt responded. “But something tells me that isn’t the last of it…”

Almost as if on cue, another pulse of energy spread through the stony dungeon. The sky soon turned a deep violet and the ground began to shake, but not in the same way as the steelix from before. This was more… _violent_.

“Grab onto something quick!” Lance yelled as the ground began to break apart.

Cobalt and Vernal rushed to the empoleon’s side as they ran to one of the dungeon’s rocky walls. The trio held on for dear life as they watched as the surrounding dungeon fell apart and collapsed, leaving various pieces of earth floating throughout the void around them. Vernal was holding on to two of his arrow-like feathers that he had plunged into the side of the cliff. “Okay… I’ve seen my fair share of crazy, but what hel-”

“Wait.” Cobalt said, as he looked like he was trying to focus on something. _“That aura again… What is it- …”_ The lucario looked to the side and noticed a floating chunk of land gravitate towards them.

“On my mark, we jump.” He said, still watching the piece of floating land. “Three… Two… One…”

“Go!” Ashe yelled, signaling Jonah to start running. An obstacle course had been set up on the beach where Jonah had trained with Ashe before. In Jonah’s line of sight there was a long stretch of sand, followed by a tall stone wall. He noticed that quite a few spots in the sand were more disturbed than others.

 _“Really…? Pitfalls…?”_ He thought as he quickly weaved between the piles of sand, eventually reaching the rock wall.

“Well that wasn’t too hard…” Jonah said to himself, before feeling a sharp pain in his tails. “Fuck!” He yelled as he spun backwards, finding a red crab with its claw clamped down on his two tails.

“You put krabby in there…?” Dusty said looking up at Ashe, who was chuckling at the scene unfolding in front of them.

“Really!?” Jonah yelled, turning towards the snickering blaziken.

“Hey, you’re on a time limit. Remember?!” Said Ashe, still snickering. Jonah rolled his eyes and repeatedly slammed the krabby with ice punch, knocking it off before leaping onto the stone wall.

After feeling like he had a good enough grip, Jonah looked up the wall of rocks. The structure was uneven, and looked like it was hastily put together. _“This is so fucking unsafe…”_ He thought as he pulled himself up. As he did so, Jonah became encapsulated in water and shot into the air.

Upon reaching the top, the water dissipated as Jonah reached for the top of the wall. Pulling himself up, he felt the wall start to shake. Jonah looked down the unstable structure and readied ice punch. _“This better work…”_ He thought before using water gun, aiming it at the ground below. Jonah then ran his frozen paw up against the stream of water. As it froze, Jonah grabbed onto the pillar of ice and slid down.

Once the buizel reached the bottom, he leapt off the ice pillar and ran up to a… giant… sandcastle… But as he ran closer, a shadowy orb was fired from the sandcastle. Jonah quickly jumped out of the way, face planting in the sand. _“No… There is no way…”_

The palossand began to fire off more shadow balls at Jonah. The buizel then used aqua jet, trying to dodge the incoming attacks. He then tried to weave his way around the large palossand, but was met with a tower of sand trying to block him. _“Dammit.”_ Jonah thought as he swayed to the side, narrowly avoiding the mass of sand.

“Come on Jonah…” Ivy said to herself before glancing at Riptide. “Are you even paying attention?”

“Huh? Oh, sorry… It’s just, I kind of feel like I’m forgetting something…”

Ashe and team mire watched as Jonah flew past the palossand and the volley of shadow balls that followed, just barely avoiding them. As he approached a suspended ring one of the shadowy orbs hit the tail end of Jonah’s aqua jet, sending him though the ring and crashing into the sand below. The four walked up to the buizel as he slowly got up.

 _“Living sandcastles… Great…”_ Jonah thought. “ _I hate sand…_ ” He said, spitting out sand, and shaking it off his body. “So how’d I do…?”

“Could’ve been faster, but not bad.” Said Ashe. “Alright, well take a short break, and we’ll start your combat test soon.”

“I sure hope you know where you’re leading us…” Vernal said, as the three continued to make their way through the fractured dungeon.

“Like I said earlier, I feel this aura is trying to lead us somewhere…” Cobalt replied before stopping, he looked over their surroundings before jumping up a column of slowly rotating large stones. Upon reaching the top, he once again scanned over the void.

“Why do I feel like Pyre’s just gonna bust our asses for being late if we make it out of here…” Lance said as the lucario made his way back down.

“He most likely will, but let’s focus on one thing at a time.”

“So did you see anything while you were up there?” Asked Vernal. Cobalt nodded and gestured for the two birds to follow him.

“Down there.” The lucario said, pointing at a piece of land that floated below the one they currently stood on. On the land mass was a rock formation that looked like a massive spiral staircase. However, in front of it stood a large group of dungeon pokemon, all of which seemed to be trying to attack a single target.

The target in question was wearing a long hooded cloak, and wielded some kind of wooden staff. “ _That’s them…_ ” Cobalt said, watching the fight. As a group of rhyperior, rhydon, and metang charged at the cloaked figure, they slammed the end of their staff onto the ground. The attacking pokemon all seemed to freeze in place. And as the figure raised their staff, the end that was on the ground ignited. They leaped into the air, swinging their staff to create a massive blast of fire.

But once the blast cleared, more rock types began to surround them. _“Dammit…”_ They thought, before a blue sphere slammed into one of the opposing pokemon. The figure turned around to see Cobalt and Lance, as well as Vernal gliding overhead.

“As much as I appreciate this, I have things under control.” They said in a feminine sounding voice.

“Sure.” Lance said, before sweeping hydro pump across multiple dungeon pokemon.

As the four continued to fight off the hoard of pokemon, a powerful wave of energy ran past them. “ _Dammit, I’m running out of time…_ Listen, I need you three to hold these guys off.”

“Do you have somewhere to be?” Vernal said, firing another quill from his wing.

“I don’t have time to… Please, just do it…? It’s the only way we can leave this place.” She said, making a break for the staircase.

Upon reaching the top the cloaked figure stopped to catch her breath, as the air had grown thin on the way up. She lowered her hood and looked out in front of her. They were delphox with short fur, finding that keeping the orange tufts on her ears was easier to manage this way.

 _“I hate… the way… the stairs… distort…”_ She said as she walked up to a rift in the air. It looked like it was starting to get bigger. The delphox raised her staff as the crystals tied to the end began to glow.

 _“Wait…”_ Cobalt said panting, having just finished climbing up the staircase. The delphox allowed her staff to float towards the rift, causing a blinding light to engulf the fractured dungeon.

Lance, Cobalt, and Vernal soon found themselves at the top of Rigid Pass. The two guild masters began to gaze around in disbelief, as in a flash everything around them had changed. “What… the hell… just happened…?” Lance asked, the empoleon feeling around the ground with his foot.

“I think whoever that was did something…” Said Vernal.

Cobalt scanned the surrounding rocky terrain for any sign of the mysterious stranger. “Hey, Cobalt. Something wrong?” Lance asked.

“ _They’re gone…_ ”

“What was that?”

“We should go… We shouldn’t keep the others waiting…”

“Hey… if something’s bothering you-”

“There’s just something about their aura…” Cobalt said, looking off to the side. “But really, we should go… I say this for your sake.”

“So what do you think that was back there?” Asked Vernal.

“Whatever that was, it's something the others need to hear about…” Lance said, turning around. “This could wind up being a serious problem…”

“Alright! You ready for the combat test?” Ashe said, leading Jonah and Team Mire to her dojo.

“Depends… who am I going up against?” The buizel said, giving a sigh.

“Me.” Ashe said in a deadpan tone, while firing a menacing look towards Jonah.

“Okay, who am I really fighting?” He said after a brief hesitation with an unamused look on his face.

“You’re no fun…” Ashe said, smiling and rolling her eyes. “But yeah, you’ll be facing Riptide.”

“Huh?” The two water types said in unison.


	14. Guilds and Tests Part 2

“What do you mean I’m fighting Jonah?!” Riptide said, as the five of them entered the tent.

“Well this is all kind of short notice, and I couldn't find anyone else. So the two of you need to get in there.” Ashe said pointing to the battlefield. “Just think of it as friendly sparring.”

“ _Yeah…_ ” Riptide said, looking off to the side. The croconaw looked out at the battlefield, remembering his fight with King. But Riptide quickly shook his head, turned towards Jonah and smiled. “Be sure to do your best alright. It’ll be cool having you on the team. So don’t hold back, alright.”

Jonah took a deep breath and nodded. “Yeah… Yeah alright.”

The two then made their way out onto the field, Ashe and Ivy followed. But the former turned and stopped when she noticed that Dusty hadn’t moved. “You coming?”

“ _Yeah… Um…_ Can we talk for a bit after all of this…?”

Lance, Cobalt, and Vernal made their way down a stony path that was lined with several tall trees and other foliage. The three soon came across an aggron and tyranitar, both with white scarfs tied around their arms. The two rock types standing in front of a stone wall with a metal gate in between.

“Ah, Lance! Was wondering when you’d show.” The tyranitar said.

“ _Please tell me Pyre’s not mad…_ ”

“Can’t tell you, besides he always looks pissed. Also we’ve been out here all day.”

Lance sighed before looking back up. “ _So... how many times did he try to eat the gate…?_ ” He loudly whispered.

“That was one time Lance!” The aggron yelled as the empoleon, his tyranitar partner, and Vernal began to laugh as they were let through. As they walked down a stone-ladden road, several large, white, stone buildings came into view.

“Finally here…” Lance said, glancing around. Marble City always reminded him a bit of Cascade. The busy streets, as well as the many shops that lined them, and of course, _“the beautiful scenery…”_ Lance thought as he glanced at a group of girl pokemon.

“Lance!” Cobalt said, snapping Lance out of his thoughts. “We need to hurry!”

“Right.”

The three soon approached a large white building with four towering stone pillars, two on either side of the entrance. They quickly made their way up the stairs, and towards a pair of massive wooden doors. Upon entering, the trio rushed down the slick, yellowish floors that lined the off-white halls.

“Where the hell is he!!” An arcanine growled loudly.

“Pyre, there’s no need to get so worked up.” A large machamp said, walking up to the orange dog.

“Just **once** , you think he’d show up on time!” Pyre growled again.

“Well we haven’t really started yet … It’s still kind of early, and half of the counsel, not to mention Vernal aren’t here yet either.”

“ _Vernal… **I have some words for him…**_ ” The two pokemon soon turned to the large wooden doors as Lance, Cobalt, and Vernal slowly emerged.

“We’re not late, are we?” Lance asked, poking his head though.

“Jonah! Are you ready?!” Ashe yelled.

The buizel took a deep breath and nodded. “I’m ready.” He said, taking a battle stance.

Ashe nodded in response before raining her talion in the air. “Battle begin!”

Riptide started things off, and rushed forwards with waterfall. In response, Jonah leaped into the air and used aqua jet to avoid the croconaw’s advance. As he went up and over, the water dissipated as Jonah proceeded to use water gun. Riptide stopped and turned, blocking the attack with his arm.

As he fell, Jonah used aqua jet again to avoid hitting the ground. He made a turn and charged right towards Riptide. The croconaw reared his arm back in preparation to use ice punch. _“Right, he knows ice punch too… Dammit, think!... Wait that’s it!... this better work…”_ Jonah leaned up a bit before the water around him once again disappeared, but the momentum he’d built up kept him in the air.

Riptide threw his arm forward and used ice punch, but just as he did Jonah used water gun. The result of which not only propelled the buizel backwards but also created a build up of ice on Riptide’s hand, weighing it down. Jonah continued to use water gun causing the block of ice to grow and stick to the ground.

“That was pretty smart of him.” Ivy said, as she, Dusty and Ashe watched from the side.

 _“Now hold still…”_ Jonah thought as he used aqua jet again, landing a direct hit on the croconaw. But as Jonah pushed forwards against Riptide, the croconaw opened his wide jaws and bit down on the rushing water. Jonah was forced out of aqua jet as the water splashed around them. The buizel proceeded to fall onto the now muddy ground, landing on his stomach.

As Riptide looked down at him, Jonah picked up a clump of mud off the ground in one paw and readied ice punch with the other. But not before being blasted in the face with water gun. Jonah slid across the wet ground, and into a large rock on the field. Riptide then began to bite away at the ice incacing his hand. Jonah slowly got up and watched as Riptide swallowed a chunk of ice after getting his arm free. _“Crap…”_

As Riptide readied himself to attack he stopped, cringing in pain. “Ahh! Brainfreeze!”

“ _Really Rip…_ ” Ivy said to herself.

With Riptide distracted, Jonah threw the ball of mud at the croconaw’s face before once again following up with aqua jet. But to his surprise Riptide countered with waterfall, sending the buizel flying back and rinsing the mud of of the croconaw’s face. Riptide then used water gun once again, pushing Jonah even further away before using waterfall to close the distance between the two. As Jonah struggled to get back up, his eyes widened as Riptide came barreling towards him.

“ _Oooh…_ ” Dusty and Ivy said in unison as Riptide knocked Jonah to the ground, and into a nearby stone wall.

 _“Can he still…?”_ Ashe thought as she waited for Jonah to make a move. The buizel looked like he was about to, but instead fell forwards.

“ _Oww…_ ” Jonah groaned as he lay on the ground.

“I guess that’s that then… Riptide wins.”

“Sorry about that Jonah…” Riptide said, helping the buizel up.

“ _You… really… knocked… the wind… outta me…_ ” Jonah said, trying to catch his breath.

“Well hey, there’s still the Dungeon Competency Test. You’ve got this!” Ivy said, reassuringly.

“Right…”

“About damn time you three got here…” Pyre grumbled, as he gave Lance a death glare.

 _“His eyes are piercing my soul…”_ Lance thought as stood semi frozen.

“And you!” The arcanine yelled as he turned towards Vernal. “We need to talk…” Pyre said in a low, growling voice. The decidueye took a step back and nodded hesitantly.

“Yes sir…”

“Come with me…” Pyre said, turning to leave the room.

Vernal sighed and glanced at Lance. “ _If I don’t come back, you know what happened…_ ” He jokingly said before following Pyre out of the room.

“He’s really something isn’t he…?” A machamp wearing a beige colored scarf around his arm said, as he looked over at Lance. Before he began to walk over towards the empoleon.

“Oh, hey Brick…”

“Look, don’t mind Pyre. He’s just… kind of in a bad mood.”

“He’s _always_ in a bad mood.”

“I guess you have a point there.” The machamp said as he laughed. “Anyways, there’s someone with me who’d like to meet you.” Brick said, gesturing a rather large feraligatr to come forward. The blue reptile wore a guild scarf matching Brick’s around his arm, and had a look on his face that Lance couldn’t quite describe. It was… oddly intimidating…

“So… _You’re Lance huh…?_ ” The feraligatr said as he slowly marched over.

“Yes… I don’t think we’ve met…” Lance replied, holding out his flipper.

“I’ve heard about you… Name’s Torrent. I’m Brick’s newly appointed assistant guildmaster.

“It’s… good to meet you.” A slight uneasy feeling came over Lance as he shook Torrent’s hand. There was just something about him… Something familiar that he just couldn't quite put his flipper on.

“Is something wrong?” Torrent asked.

“Sorry, there’s just… been a few things on my mind lately…” The empoleon said, giving a smile.

“So, get any good teams this time?” Brick asked, crossing his arms.

“Well two of them seemed to stick out this time around.” Cobalt replied, as Torrent looked like he started to pay more attention.

But before they could continue their conversation, a few more pokemon began to enter the room. Pyre and Vernal came back as well, the ladder of which having a defeated and somewhat frightened look on his face. The guildmasters as well as five other pokemon all gathered around a long rectangular wooden table, with the guildmasters on one end and the remaining five on the other.

“So, where shall we begin?” An alakazam asked.

“Well I’m sure we’re **_all aware_** of what happened in Timberglade…” Pyre huffed, as he glared towards Vernal. “I-”

“Apologies for interrupting, but I feel there is something more pressing that we need to talk about.” Cobalt calmly said.

“Oh I’m sorry… BUT ARE BAND-”

“Pyre! … Please…” The alakazam said, before gesturing for Cobalt to continue.

The lucario nodded and sighed. “On our way here, the dungeon of Ridged Pass began to break apart… Almost as if we were taken into the void… We also encountered someone inside who I feel was trying to guide us through and fix what happened.”

“ _Hmph._ Well now you have my attention…” Pyre said. “Because I recall one of my teams mentioning something like that… But I assumed it was just an excuse for them being late.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me…” Lance thought.

“Wait, wait… Dungeons don’t just “break apart.” Brick said.

“This does sound like something we should probably look into…” Said the alakazam. “What about this individual you encountered?”

“ _They disappeared soon after we made our way though…_ ” Cobalt said, glancing down.

Brick brought a hand to his head and sighed. “Next you’ll be telling me another human showed up…”

“ _His name’s Jonah._ ” Lance said, looking over at the machamp.

Everyone turned to stare at the empoleon. “So… Where is he then…?” Torrent asked.

“At the guild.” Cobalt replied. “He’s currently being watched by one of our newer teams who found him during a job.” The lucario said, taking three papers out of his bag and placing them on the table.

Torrent glanced at the paper with Riptide’s information on it and began to stare at it, giving a slight smile. However his train of thought was soon interrupted by Pyre.

“Well if these dungeons are in fact coming apart, how do you know this human isn’t responsible?!” The arcanine said.

“Honestly… We don’t…” Lance answered hesitantly.

“Which is exactly why you shouldn’t be the ones watching him, let alone a new team.”

“Are you implying something?” Lance asked. “Because I think we have things under control.”

“You mean like how you have your neph-” Pyre stopped himself from finishing, but it was already too late.

“If you want to say something to me, _**then say it…**_ ” Lance said with a hint of anger in his voice.

“...You’re irresponsible Lance… Someone like you shouldn't be dealing with this…” Pyre spat in a low, almost growling voice.

“ _Maybe we should take a break…_ ” Vernal Said, lifting his wing.

“How long does it take to pick a damn lock?! Hurry up and open the door! We don’t know when they'll be back!” King loudly whispered.

“And here I thought you said you’d lay off of them…” Dusk said in an annoyed tone. The prinplup rolled his eyes.

“Look, how long have we been here again? That buizel’s been here for a few days, and gets to take the damn test! There’s something going on here…”

“Didn’t your uncle tell you he’d talk about it with us when he got back?” The zorua said as he opened the door. “ _And since you think it’s so easy, **you** can pick the lock next time._” As King shoved past Dusk, the zorua sighed. “ _This is so stupid…_ ”

“What’s **stupid** is that-” King said, stopping himself before turning to the zorua who had a look on his face. A look that Dusk had when he was waiting for someone to say something dumb.

“So, we going through their crap or not?” Dusk asked in his usual snarky tone. Earning a glare from King.

_“Pecha prevents poison… Grimy traps ruin food… Violent seeds… Right, makes you stronger...”_ Jonah thought as he stood behind some large rocks, trying to wash the mud out of his fur. It wasn’t that he had a problem with getting dirty, but the mud was starting to dry and began to itch. The buizel then began to rub at his chest, as it still kinda hurt after his battle with Riptide. _“Yep… Just like football tryouts…”_ Jonah thought as he reached into the bucket water sitting next to him.

“You… don’t think I hit him too hard… do you…?” Riptide asked the others, rubbing his arm.

“I’m fine…” Jonah said, walking towards the group of pokemon. “Just trust me when I say I’ve had worse things happen to me…”

“Okay then, we’ll head back to the guild and you’ll take the last part there.” Ashe said before glancing at Dusty. “Actually you guys go on ahead. And Jonah, wait for me by the archives.”

As they walked back to the guild, Ivy and Riptide noticed Jonah muttering to himself as he followed them. “Jonah, you’re gonna do fine. Or at least better than Rip did on his.”

“ _Eh-_ ” Riptide said, pointing at the treecko before slowly lowering his head. “ _Okay, fine…_ ”

Ivy chuckled and shook her head before tuning her attention to dojo. “So any idea why Dusty stayed back there?”

Hearing this, Riptide froze. “Is he…?”

“Rip!”

“Huh?! Oh, um… _It’s probably nothing…_ ”

“Rip…”

Riptide sighed and looked at the treecko. “Dusty’s… He… kind of feels like he’s… _behind…_ ”

“So what, you think he’s gonna start something with Ashe?”

“ _Maybe…_ ”

Jonah continued to mutter to himself, saying the names of various items and their effects as the buizel walked past them. “He’s really into this, isn’t he?” Ivy asked.

“Yeah…”

“ _...You still feel a bit bad about beating him, don’t you._ ” Ivy quietly said, leaning towards Riptide. The croconaw nodded. “Well don’t, he’ll get in. I’m sure of it.”

Ivy and Jonah later approached the guild’s entrance when they noticed that Riptide was gone. “Okay, how did we lose him!?” Ivy exclaimed.

“It’s fine, you go look for him. I’ll see you around.” Ivy nodded before darting off into the main square. Jonah watched as the treecko ran off and began to think. _“You don’t think he… … He does feel bad doesn't he…”_

“ _Dammit Rip…_ ” Ivy said to herself. “ _Alright, Ivy… Think like Rip…_ Okay… If he’s not there, then we might have a problem…”

Riptide scarfed down another doughnut as he sat on a bench near the main square. He absent mindedly watched as various pokemon walked past him up and down the stone streets of Cascade. Before an orange clawed hand waving in front of his face snapped him out of his current state.

“Hey, Riptide.”

“Oh… Hey Flare… What are you doing here?”

“ _Heh, yeah…_ don’t tell my dad, but sometimes I come here during my breaks…” The charmeleon said, sounding a little embarrassed. “So, have room for one more?” He said, gesturing at the bench.

“Yeah, sure…”

“So… You had to face him for his test… He lost… _And now you feel bad something might happen…_ ” Flare said as Riptide nodded.

“I mean Jonah’s pretty smart and all, but-”

“You feel like you did something you shouldn't have… _I know that feeling all too well…_ ” Flare said before biting down on a doughnut of his own.

“There you are!” Ivy said as she walked up to the two reptiles. “You know, you could have at least said something.” The treecko said, crossing her arms.

“ _Yeah… I guess…_ ” Riptide said, looking down. Ivy stared at the croconaw for a bit before taking one of his doughnuts. “ _Really…_ ”

“He’s gonna get in. And when he does, no more feeling bad about this, alright.” Ivy said as she turned to walk back to the guild.

Jonah stood outside the entrance to the guild’s archives. He looked around at the stone walls around him as he swished his tails around out of boredom. _“I wonder what’s taking Ashe?...”_

“Hey Jonah.” The buizel was snapped out of his thoughts as he was now face to face with Sol.

“Wha- oh… Hey…”

“So… If you're not doing anything… Do you mind if I ask you some questions?”

“ _Maybe later…_ ” Jonah said, slightly backing against the wall.

“Okay, well how about just one for now?”

“Whatever is is it’s gonna have to wait.” Said Ashe as she walked up to the duo. “You ready for the last part?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be I guess.” Jonah said before he turned to Sol. “We’ll talk later, okay.”

 _“So close…”_ Sol thought, as the heliolisk watched as the two went into the archives.

Sol soon caught a glimpse of Ivy as he entered the guild’s main hall. _“Well if I can’t ask Jonah…”_

Ivy soon made her way upstairs to her team’s room, but when she reached to open the door. She didn’t feel anything… _“What the hell…?”_ She thought, as the treecko reached out again. Ivy paused as it hit her. “ _An illusion?… **Dusk…**_ ”

“You called.” A smug voice behind her said.

“You better have a good reason for this shit.” Ivy said, crossing her arms.

“I swear, it’s like no one can take a joke anymore…” Dusk said, rolling his eyes.

“Hey Ivy.” Said Sol as he walked up to pokemon. “Is… something wrong?...”

“No, just a _small disagreement…_ ” She replied, gritting her teeth.

“Oh, well I was wondering if we could talk.”

“Sure, we can go into _**my team’s room.**_ ” She said while glaring at Dusk.

“Yeah, yeah, I can tell when I’m not wanted.” The zorua said walking away.

Ivy slammed the door shut as she and Sol went inside. Hearing the wooden door close, Dusk turned around and walked back. A slight ripple ran down the stone corridor as a second illusion disappeared causing King to seem to fade into existence.

“ _I sure hope you got what you wanted…_ ” Dusk said in an annoyed tone.

“Well… It’s something…”

Lance stood in the hallway with his back against the wall. For the first time the empoleon felt something towards Pyre that wasn’t uneasiness, but rather anger. But despite that, he knew that the arcanine had a point.

_“Alright Lance… You’re gonna walk back in there, and you’re gonna finish this… … Okay, so maybe King does get into trouble sometimes and… and… … and now you’re just making excuses…”_

“How are you doing?” He heard Cobalt ask.

Lance didn’t respond, instead just slowly turning his head towards the lucario. “He wasn't wrong… Sis handed him over to me to try and reel him back a bit and… _Why… do I get the feeling that he did something…_ ”

“Lance-”

“It’s fine… Let’s just head back in alright.” Lance said with a cheerful look on his face. As the empoleon walked back to the room, there was a distinct sadness that Cobalt could feel in Lance’s aura.

By the time the two reentered the meeting room, things had calmed down a bit. But an awkward feeling still lingered in the air. “So I take it we’re able to continue now?” The alakazam asked, gazing around the room. “I’ll take your silence as a yes.” Over the next few hours, they continued to discuss the fracturing dungeons as well as how to possibly handle them.

“Now Cobalt, I recall you said you, Lance, and Vernal encountered someone in the fractured dungeon.”

Cobalt nodded. “Yes… But they vanished soon after everything returned to normal…”

“So if we can find them, we could put a stop to this before it starts right?” Brick asked.

“You make that sound like it’s easy…” Pyre groaned.

“And it’s not like we can give an accurate description of them either.” Said Vernal. “They were wearing this long cloak with a hood over their head.”

“All I can tell you is that they’re a delphox…” Cobalt added.

“ _A delphox…_ We’ll continue this tomorrow.”

Lance and Cobalt stepped outside of the building and looked out at the several ivory structures that lined the city. Cobalt turned towards Lance, noticing the empoleon had a tired scowl across his face. “Are you-”

“I’m fine…”

“...We both know that’s not true…” Cobalt said as the black aura sensors on the back of his head began to vibrate.

“… Actually, Lance… There’s something I want to tell you… _I think… I think that pokemon back at Riged Pass may have been-_ ”

“So what are you two doing later?” Vernal asked as he glided up to the pair. “Cause Brick, Torrent, and I were gonna head out to eat somewhere. Wanna come?”

Lance’s expression immediately changed to that of an upbeat and cheerful one. “Sure, don’t really have much else to do. What do you think?” He asked, turning towards Cobalt.

“I guess so… Why not.” The lucario said before one again facing Lance. “ _We’ll talk about this later…_ ”

“I probably should have this asked sooner, but where exactly are we headed?” Lance asked Brick, who led the search for their destination.

“It’s called… Umm… Okay, the name’s kinda slipping from me at the moment. But it’s around here somewhere. I’ll know it when I see it.”

“ _Uh huh…_ So what kind of food do they have there?”

“Don’t really know what they have, but it’s a new place and I wanted to try it.” The machamp said.

On the way there, Lance could feel the way Torrent was looking at him. It didn’t necessarily feel malicious, but… something felt a bit off.

“Well, here we are.” Brick said looking up at a sign above the entrance of a large, ornate looking ivory building that was marked with brown accents.

Vernal looked up at the sign as well and whistled. “Heh, I didn’t know you of all pokemon would be into places like this.”

“Oh I’m not, I just heard earlier that this place had something interesting.”

 _“I think this spot may be a bit out of my price range…”_ Vernal thought as he tugged on the vines hanging from his head.

“Lance and I’ll catch up with you.” Torrent said as the others stepped inside.

“Is something wrong…?” Lance asked.

“I just want to talk… Just so that there isn’t anything between us.”

Lance sighed. “If this is about what happened with Pyre I…”

Torrent shook his head. “I was… referring to King and Riptide…”

It took a few seconds for Lance to register what Torrent had said before it hit him. “ _I see… So… you know about what happened last year..._ ” Torrent nodded. “Look, lately I’ve been trying to keep him busy and… _...You know… I don’t know why, but I get the feeling he did something that I don’t know about…_ ” Lance said with a nervous smile.

Torrent stared at the empoleon for a bit. “Look, you seem like an alright guy. But this is something you should take care of quickly if King is staying at the guild. The last thing I want is for anything to escalate more than it already has. Especially since we’ll be working together like this more often… Remember, this is my son we’re talking about…” The feraligatr said as he turned around before walking inside. Lance sighed to himself, following Torrent shortly after.

Upon entering, they could really get a sense of the atmosphere inside. _“What kind of place has Brick brought us to…?”_ Lance said under his breath as he glanced around his surroundings. There were a few columns much like the ones outside the Marble city guild hall, the difference being they were smaller and adorned with small lanterns. And as Lance looked over to the side, he saw a large painting on one of the reddish-brown walls depicting what Lance could only assume was probably some important battle.

“Hey, what took you two?” Vernal Asked as he waved them over.

“We were just having a little talk.” Torrent said, walking over to their table.

“ _Yeah…_ ” Lance followed up as he sat next to Vernal.

“What to get…” Brick said mostly to himself as he stared intensely at the menu he held.

“If you can’t pronounce it, then you probably shouldn’t order it.” Torrent said as he did the same.

“Yes Torrent, _I remember what happened last time…_ ” The machamp groaned. “But anyways, how about you two tell us a bit more about this… _human…_ ”

“Well when I spoke with him, he claimed to be a researcher from the human world. Something about a kind of energy is what led him here.” Cobalt said, as he browsed through his menu.

“And you let him join the guild?”

“I didn’t sense any mal intent on his end. Besides, it’s easier to keep an eye on him this way. And that’s where team mire comes in, remember?”

“I’m still kinda surprised that Riptide and the others went to you guys instead of with us.” Brick said.

“Ah, it’s fine. Besides knowing the kid, it’s because Cascade’s closer to Bluefield town.” Torrent said, smiling.

Shortly after orders were placed, the five pokemon continued to talk. “ _Why is everything here so expensive…_ ” Vernal said to himself.

“If that’s the case, why’d you get that? You know the berries used in it are pretty hard to come by, right?” Lance said in a somewhat teasing manner.

“ _You’re mocking my pain…?_ ”

As the others snickered at the decidueye’s remark, Cobalt began to feel something again. “Again…? Where are you…?”

“Hey Cobalt. Doing alright there?” Brick asked.

“Yes… Sorry about that…”

“I’ll see you around, alright…” Ivy said as Sol left her team’s room. _“Damn that was a lot of questions…”_ The treecko thought as she leaned back onto her bed. _“Kinda feel bad for Jonah once Sol tracks him down… I wonder where this sudden interest in him came from?...”_

Her thoughts were soon interrupted as Riptide barged inside practically tugging Jonah in along with him. “Ow, ow, ow, ow…” Jonah said, before getting his arm back from the croconaw. “Look I get you're excited, but easy…”

“Sorry…”

“Wait, am I missing something here?” Ivy asked.

“Oh nothing much… _Teammate_.” Jonah said, leaning in towards the treecko.

“Did you tell her?…” Dusty tiredly said as he peered inside.

“Yeah… it was the last test that really saved me there… Ashe said that I did well enough, but that I shouldn’t really go into a dungeon without you guys, _not that I really plan to…_ …Honestly, this feels a bit weird… _But not in a bad way._ ”

“So like a new start…?” Dusty asked.

“Something like that. By the way, how come you hung back at Ashe’s place?”

“I… I was talking to Ashe about if I could maybe start training there every now and then…” Dusty said, glancing off to the side.

“Well, to new goals, and to new teammates.” Ivy said.

“Then I guess we have two reasons to celebrate!” Riptide said, grabbing hold of Dusty and Jonah.

“I didn’t know you needed an excuse to cram your face with sweets.” Ivy jokingly said as Riptide rolled his eyes.

“ _Please put me down…_ ” Dusty muttered.

“Me too… I’d kinda like to write something…” Jonah said. “Riptide?...”

“Write… Uh… ...Dusty… _We forgot to write mom and dad…_ ” The croconaw said as he slowly released the two.

“ _Yeah… I guess with everything going on… Still, I probably should have remembered that…_ ” Dusty said, the clear embarrassment present in his voice.

“There’s some stuff in the archives you can-”

“Alright, we’ll be back in a bit. And then we can celebrate!” Riptide said, hastily leaving the room, taking Dusty with him.

“Wait!” The cubone protested, as Riptide carried him away.

Ivy shook her head as chuckled to herself. “For your sake, I hope you get used to this.” The treecko said, turning towards Jonah.

“Hey, where’s my journal?” Jonah said, digging through his stuff.

“Which one?”

“The new one.”

“That’s not really that much clearer.”

“ _I know I left it here…_ ” Jonah said to himself as he brought his paws to his temple.

As Ivy watched the buizel continue to rummage through his things, a thought soon came to her mind. “Jonah… Come with me…”

“Huh?”

“I think… I might know where your journal is…”

“How’s the letter coming along?” Riptide asked as his face was buried in a book about recipes.

“It would be going a lot better if you helped.” The cubone responded.

The two both were sitting at a small wooden table near the archive’s entrance. Dusty sat on one end with a few pieces of paper in front of him. While Riptide sat on the other, intensely staring in his book.

“Come on, you know I’m not good with this kind of stuff…” Dusty sighed.

“ _...Should we… tell them…?_ ”

“Hmm?”

“ _You know…_ about _everything_ that’s happened here…?”

Riptide finally looked up from the book. “Well… _maybe not **everything** …_”

“I don’t know… Part of me feels like we should…”

“Hmm I guess so… but maybe not mom though…”

“Well what do you want me to do, lie?!”

“I’m not saying lie, just… leave some things out… Besides, you’re a horrible liar.”

Dusty sighed. “I’m just guessing Torr- dad… might be able to tell the guildmaster over there about… _the dungeon…_ ”

“Yeah, I guess so…”

After a while, Dusty finally finished the letters. “So how does this look?” The cubone said, sliding it over to Riptide. Who was at this time licking his scaly jaws while still staring at the book. “Riptide.” Dusty said in a slightly sterner tone.

“Huh… Oh, you’re done…”

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah, yeah…” Riptide said as he tried to shake himself out of his dazed state.

“Alright, let’s see…”

_Sorry it took us a while to write, but a lot of things have been going on here at the guild lately. In fact the day ~~I’m~~ we’re writing this, we got a new teammate. We saved him during our first mission. His name’s Jonah, he’s… a bit weird, but he’s nice enough. Riptide also evolved a little while back. We also kind of ran into Flare a few times. But don’t worry, we’re on good terms now. And aside from Jonah, we made a few friends here. Sol and Luna, the two of them make up a team called Team Shine. But yeah, a bunch of things have been happening here lately. But so far we’re doing okay. For the most part at least…_

_Love and miss you, **Dusty** and Riptide._

“Really? You bolded your name...”

“Who wrote it again…?” Dusty huffed.

“Alright, alright, fine. Let’s see the one for dad.”

_Sorry it took us a while to write, but a lot of things have been going on here at the guild lately. In fact the day we’re writing this, we got a new teammate. We saved him during our first mission. His name’s Jonah, he’s… a bit weird, but he’s nice enough. Riptide also evolved a little while back. We also ran into Flare a few times. But don’t worry, we’re on good terms now. And aside from Jonah, we made a few friends here. Sol and Luna, the two of them make up a team called Team Shine. But yeah, a bunch of things have been happening here lately._

_~~There was~~ Something weird happened while we were in a dungeon. Everything seemed like it was breaking apart. And there was this weird void-like space all around us. It was really scary… we got separated when it happened to… We don’t really know what caused it either. It was like it just… happened… Everything’s fine now, but we hope that whatever that was doesn't repeat itself._

_Dusty and Riptide._

“Alright, where is it?” Ivy said, crossing her arms. She and Jonah stood on either side of Dusk in the hallway outside his and King’s room.

“And what exactly are you asking me for?...” Dusk said, in an annoyed tone.

“My journal, where is it?”

“Oh… A journal… Yeah, I don’t have one of those.” Dusk said, facing Jonah.

“ _Listen here you little-_ … You were messing around our room earlier. **_Did you take it?_** ” Ivy asked sternly.

“ _Now do I look like the type of pokemon who would steal things?..._ ” The zorua asked facetiously. “ _Because as a dark type, it’s that kind of stigmatizing that-_ ”

“ **Yes, and you have.** ”

“Whatever. I don’t have your dumb journal.” Dusk said as he slipped past the two and began to walk away. “ _I’ll let you know if I find it. How ‘bout that?_ ”

Ivy placed her hand up to her face and sighed. “ _We can’t let Rip know about this…_ ” She said, turning to face Jonah. “We’ll figure this out ourselves…”

“Well that was fun.” Lance said as he and Cobalt made their way to a small house that they were staying at for the time being.

“So I take it you're feeling better?” Cobalt asked.

“A little, I guess…”

“Well that’s good… ...So… do you mind if we talk about something…?”

“Right, you were trying to say something earlier. Go ahead.”

“That individual from Ridged Pass… There was something about their aura… Something about it felt similar to Am-” But before Cobalt could finish, there was a blinding blue light...

“That individual from Ridged Pass… There was something about their aura that bothers me.”

“What about it?”

“It seemed almost… distorted… Like it was warped by something… It just… felt strange…”

“Well once we find whoever that was, maybe we can get some answers.”

A cloak wearing delphox watched from a distance as the two pokemon walked away. “...Why did you do that…?” She asked as another cloaked figure approached her. “I can’t help them from a distance like this…”

“ _They can’t know about you… Not yet…_ ”

“This is starting to be a real pain in the ass, you know that…”

“ _Do you realize what could happen if-_ ”

“Yes, I get it! But maybe just for once we can make an exception.”

“ _Not until the human has shown that he’s ready… Do you want to become useless at the time they’ll need you most…?!_ ”

The delphox lowered her head. “...No…”

“ _Then stay away from them…_ ”


End file.
